


Beast Within the Beauty (discontinued)

by Radhomo



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Bottom Louis, Harry Styles - Freeform, King Harry, Kings & Queens, Larry Stylinson Is Real, Louis Tomlinson - Freeform, M/M, Stockholm Syndrome, Top Harry, United Kingdom, and sorry if you do?, larry stylinson - Freeform, monarchs, sry if you don't like zayn, ziam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-05-25 01:12:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 44,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6174337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radhomo/pseuds/Radhomo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I want to go home to my family.” Louis sneered. He had a death grip on his fork, a glare set on the beast.</p><p>It had only made Harry want to laugh out. A smirk grew on his face as he began to walk closer to the blue-eyed beauty. “I’m afraid not. You’re mine now, you belong to me.” </p><p>He was now standing next to Louis, the same smirk laid across his lips. With a chuckle, he reached his hand out and softly pressed his thumb into the boy’s cheek. Harry wasn’t going to let the beauty go anytime soon.</p><p> </p><p>or an au where Louis is taken into the Holmes Chapel kingdom and can't return. also larry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 06/25/2017 EDIT: hello yes, you read the title correctly. Yet again, this story has been discontinued. RIP gone but not forgotten. Although this story has been discontinued, that doesn't mean it's completely gone; I have created a story to follow an actual plot. I know what you're thinking: "wtf what makes you think you're going to finish that one." lmao well, that story isn't complete trash like this one. Plus I felt uncomfortable with the Jay part, she was originally going to be the villain, but I can't get myself to write it that way anymore. I do know that some of you enjoy this story, so it will stay up and if you're wondering how this ends, just watch Beauty and the Beast ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ minus the actual beast part. Anyways, if you enjoyed this story, I'm sure you'll enjoy the newer version: Hummingbird.
> 
> Thank you,   
> Radhomo

“Seven hundred and fifty pounds.” Jay repeated slowly. She stared at the two handsome men that had came into the pub moments ago. They had requested to see her, for her to read the anonymous person’s tarot cards. She nodded, a wicked smile playing against her lips. Easy to deceive, she thought to herself. “And whom is getting their future told?”

The raven-haired man slid the few pounds over to the woman, then giving her a stern look. “King Harry Styles from Holmes Chapel. It is crucial that you do not tell anyone this information - even your own family.”

Jay grinned and took the money. “Of course. And where will I be reading at? At the abandoned kingdom?”

“The castle, we will pick you up in the morning; it will take approximately two hours. Surely you can spare the time.” The man beside him had said. His brown eyes stared at the woman as if he were trying to find betrayal in her eyes.

“Luckily, I am for tomorrow. I am usually busy, even to busy to tend to my family. Send King Harry my condolences for the time being.” She began to stand up, ready to leave. 

The brown eyed one glared and reached over to take the woman’s wrist. “Not so fast. Do you understand what will happen if you betray us? If you break our promise, there will be consequences.” He made a motion with his hand to act as if a rope were strung around his throat.

Jay glared, ripping her hand away from the man’s grip. “How are you so sure that I’ll betray you? How do I know you’re not betraying me? I am not that kind of woman.”

“You’re a witch.” The raven-haired said. “You would do anything for money, wouldn’t you? Do anything, even perhaps ruin a kingdom?”

“I’m not like that anymore, I have a family to take care of.”

The black-haired man let out a laugh. “It’d be a shame if something happened to them. I suggest to not play any witch games on us.”

The woman bit on her lip, staring at the two. “I swear to the God above that I will not cross you. Do you believe me now?”

Jay sent them a kind smile as the two men grunted and began to leave. A smirk laid across her face as the men walked away. She stuffed the money into her handbag and laughed to herself. What the men didn’t know was that her fingers had been crossed the whole time. Her true intentions could have major consequences, but seven hundred and fifty euros were more than enough to live off of including her family of five not counting her. 

All they had to do was run. 

-

“Louis! Where is my hairbrush?” 

The blue-eyed boy groaned as he set his book aside to stare at his lovely sister, Charlotte. Or what Louis called her, Lottie. He raised an eyebrow at the blonde headed girl and stifled back a laugh when he saw her extreme bedhead. She gave him a hard glare and walked over to where he was sitting, crossing her arms.

“Where is it?” She asked sternly.

Louis shrugged his shoulders. “Does it look like I need a hairbrush? Go ask Felicite.”

“You’re a liar.” Lottie scoffed. “You’re always using my brush. Especially when you go into town to impress-"

"Shut up, I'm trying to read." The blue-eyed boy whined, feeling the warmth rise to his cheeks. 

The girl scoffed. "I'm not going until you tell me. I know you have it."

Louis rolled his eyes and took the brush from behind him and threw it at his sister. Lottie smiled and walked out of the room with brush in hand. He sighed as his fingers trailed up to his eyes and rubbed slightly. The family had not gotten much sleep the night before since their mother had came home in a hurry, telling them to pack. She had told them that they were moving somewhere near the kingdom in Paris due to a better area to practice in tarot reading.

It was strange, especially coming from the mother, considering that they have been living in Doncaster all their life. Thankfully, Louis had talked the woman into calming down and sleeping the night before leaving right away. Not only had it been three in the morning, but his mother was talking mad. He wondered what had caused his mother to react in such a way.

So now the family was packing for Paris. Louis wasn't really concerned, he didn't have many friends. Other than Stan, he had no one besides his family. Stan was his… acquaintance; he ran the fruit stand in town and complained about just anything with Louis every time he went to buy groceries - which was very rare.

“We don’t have much time. Is everything packed and ready to go?” His mother, Jay, had asked as she stepped into the room. She had her suitcases in her hands, bags under her eyes, and hair falling to her face.

Louis motioned towards his bags sitting next to him on the sofa. “I’m ready. All we’re waiting on is the girls. Why is there not much time?”

“I’ll tell you later. Get the horses ready.”

The blue-eyed boy frowned at his mother, watching her leave to go upstairs to the girl’s rooms. He let out a sigh and sat up from the sofa and began to walk out the door. The family lived on the outskirts of town, only to keep away the people that had gotten a terrible reading from Jay. Every once in awhile, someone would get a bad reading and threaten to kill their mother. It was better to live off town and disguise themselves as a farm house.

Louis shuddered when the cool wind hit his bare arms. It was nearing winter, and he was not looking forward to it. There were only two positive things to winter: His birthday and Christmas, otherwise, he hated it. He’d rather die from heat than freezing to death. 

Quickly, he got the horses ready, along with the black carriage on the back and began to run back inside. Before he walked in, his eyes caught two men on horses coming their way to the house. There was no way they were going to pass the house, they were going straight towards the cottage. Furrowing his eyebrows, Louis ran straight back in to alert his mother of the people.

“Mother, are you expecting anyone?” Louis asked once he walked inside. Jay had her arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently at the girls who were gathering small things that were dropped on the floor. 

Jay turned around, furrowing her eyebrows. “What?”

“Two men are about to be here, they’re on horses coming straight towards us.”

It was like their mother’s skin went pale white when the words left Louis’ mouth. She whispered out a curse and began to fumble with her fingers. “Daisy, Phoebe, never mind that, get in the carriage. I’ll buy you a new one once we get there. Felicity, Charlotte, carriage. Louis, help me get the bags and hurry.”

Louis bit on his lip, the confusion still running through his mind and grabbed the bags from the sofa and began to run outside with his mother. When he placed the things in the carriage, he looked back at the men. Louis could see the more of the men - what they were wearing, their facial features. Though Louis was cut off by his mother trying to shove him in the carriage with his sisters. He hastily got into the black carriage, immediately looking out the window to look at the men now chasing after the family. 

“Mother, what’s happening?” Louis shouted as she hopped on one of the horses.

There wasn’t enough time for her to answer, for one of the men were yelling after to stop. Before Jay had enough time to grab the saddle, one of the men held up a gun. Louis gasped, widening his eyes. These men were going to kill his mom. Quickly, he jumped out of the carriage and ran up to the men.

“No, stop! Don’t shoot!” He yelled. The other man pulled out a gun and pointed it at Louis, as the other one was pointed at Jay.

“She betrayed us, just as imagined.” The raven-haired one seethed, pointing his gun at the woman. “We shouldn’t have trusted her from the start. And who are you, the son? It’d be an awful shame if we took off his head, wouldn’t it?”

Jay shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks. “No, leave boy alone, please! He’s done nothing wrong! He shouldn’t have to die for my actions!”

The brown-haired man chuckled, pointing his gun up and down at the feathered-hair boy. “We tried to tell you, remember? We specifically told you that if you betrayed us, not only would you be punished, but also your family. It’d be a shame if my finger just, accidentally slipped, wouldn’t it?”

“He’s only nineteen, he’s got a whole life ahead of him.” Jay cried. “Please don’t take that away from someone innocent.”

“We warned you.” The man said, closing one eye and pointing it at Louis. 

The boy could feel his throat closing and his skin paling. His heart was racing and he felt as if he were going to have a heart attack. Louis shook his head, feeling the tears prick his eyes. He heard his mother scream out and cry for mercy, but all Louis could pay attention to was the man ready to pull the trigger.

“Wait, Li.” The raven-haired man said, reaching his arm out to touch the other’s shoulder. “Don’t you think he’ll be able to work at the castle?”

Li, Louis presumed, put down his gun and grinned at the other. “You mean…?”

“For the King.”

“Alright,” Liam nodded, a smug smile set on his face. “Kid, what’s your name?”

The boy let out a rigid breath. “L-Louis, sir. Please don’t kill my mother, please. Take me instead.”

The raven-haired one sighed. “No one is being killed, be quiet, please.”

“Alright, instead of killing you, we take the boy in exchange.” Liam told his mother. “Until you decide to read the King’s cards.”

“That’s inhumane! You’re bloody ridiculous! What would the king need with a nineteen year old boy?” Jay screamed.

“Quiet or one of you is getting shot!” The other man yelled. “Your whining is giving me a headache.”

Liam stifled out a laugh. “Would you rather him die or enslaved? It’s your choice, Witch.”

Louis felt a tear slide down his cheeks. He couldn’t believe what the men were talking about. Either death or slavery was upon him. Though, he couldn’t just stand there and watch his mother risk her own life for the family. Nonetheless, he was still confused as to what was happening. From what he’s gathered is, these two men are servants for a King named Harry, his mother somehow betrayed them, and now they either kill him or enslave him to the said King.

“I’ll go.” Louis muttered out. “Just leave my family alone, please.”

“Louis, no.” His mother cried. “You don’t deserve this, don’t do it.”

Though the boy shook his head and slowly walked towards the men. He held his hands out in surrender and walked up to the brown haired man. “If it means you’ll leave my family at peace, take me instead. Just don’t do anything to them.”

“Smart boy, I like him. He’ll fit right in at the castle.” The raven man laughed. 

“Louis, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into! Don’t do this, it will ruin your life!” His mother yelled.

With a small smile, he hopped on the horse behind the Liam man, and waved at his mother. “I love you, mother. Take care of the girls, yeah? Tell them I love them as well. And if you’re still planning, have a grand time in France. I’ll miss you.” And by now, Louis had tears running down his face, with a smile planted on his lips. He had to stay strong.

And with that, the horses were running along the fields as Louis looked back at his family, that were becoming smaller by the minute. 

It was then he realized that he would never see them again after this day unless his mother agreed.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been hours before Louis saw something other than trees and grass. When he saw the large castle in front of him, his first reaction was to cry out of frustration. He didn’t want to be there, he’d rather have died than to become a slave for a snobby king. Louis didn’t like royalty, and never will he try. 

When he was just a small child, his mother worked for the King of London, constantly foretelling his fortune. From what he remembered, his mother would always tell of great fortune and great power. Though it had all stopped whenever his mother read a horrible fortune. 

The Tower, Jay had lifted the card to reveal The Tower. It meant disaster, chaos. The fortune would foresee disaster unless the King would change his ways. Chaos was headed his way until he did something mighty, heroic, or simply just nice. Though, he took the card and ripped it in half, forcing Louis’ mother to keep reading them. Louis remembered sitting in the corner of the room, watching each terrible card lift up; he also remembered the same card lifting up. 

His thoughts were disrupted by snapping in front of his face. Louis scrunched his nose up and leaning back - too far he imagined, as his shirt was caught by the brown-haired man himself.

“Off, we’re here.” He said. Louis grumbled out curses as he swatted away the man’s hand and dismounted from the horse. The man had gotten off the horse as well and led it to the rude, raven man. “Zayn, would you do me a favor and take them to the stables? I’m going to break the news to Harry, and do whatever I’m supposed to do with him.”

Zayn, that was his name. It fit him, his name really had fit the dark aura he had put around him, Louis thought. He watched as Zayn had nodded slightly and dismounted from the horse, then going to pet the two. His view was cut short short when Liam had gripped his small forearm and forced him to walk up to the large door with him.

The door creaked open, revealing the dim corridor of the building. When they began walking through the hallways, their footsteps echoed behind them. It was empty, completely deserted. Though it still had an appeal to it. Louis looked around at the hallway, taking in the beautiful scene. On each window sill laid a potted plant that had a very vibrant color to it. The furniture laying on each side of the rooms were a deep emerald green, the oak chairs and tables perfectly fitted with the layout. No doubt was it a king's castle.

“So pretty,” Louis had whispered to himself.

A chuckle left the man’s mouth. “Is it? Zayn and I had decorated, so I’d hope it would look nice. Harry seemed pleased with it as well, which is such a relief. The man is picky when it comes to color coordination.” 

The grip on his forearm was loosened a bit, relieving pressure from the skin. Surely his arm would be red after the whole ordeal. They began to walk up the large main stairs, their footsteps only getting louder now. Louis bit back the pants after they reached the end, he didn’t want to make himself seem as weak, or useless. He didn’t want to risk his family for death.

Finally, they came across a large oak door. Liam had raised his fist, knocking slightly and calling out for King Harry. A distant reply came across, but it was incoherent. Liam opened the door anyways, revealing a beautiful library. Louis was awestruck, it was as if his fantasies were brought to life. Reading was his absolute favorite pastime, and he was considering writing his own book. Truly amazing, he thought.

“Harry, we went to the Doncaster kingdom to pick up the witch.” Liam spoke, coming closer to the other end of the room. Louis eyes had landed on a man watering plants from the other side, his back facing him. He wore a white silky collar shirt, that was tucked into his beige pants. Louis would be lying if he said he hadn’t checked the man out.

“Yes, I am aware. Is she here?” A husky voice spoke. 

The brown-haired man cleared his throat. “There was a bit of trouble. She didn’t exactly follow suit of plans, and now we’ve gotten ourselves a new pet.”

When the words left Liam’s mouth, the man turned around to face the two. His gorgeous brown locks sweatily hung to each sides his cheeks, his eyebrows into a furrow, a glare set on the feathered-hair boy in front of him. Liam pushed him forward, causing Louis to clumsily fall to his knee. His eyes met the King’s, the same glare was set on him.

“Who is he? Where is the woman?” The King asked, confusion slowly turning into anger.

“Her son. The witch had tried to run away with her family. He refused that his mother been punished for betrayal, and asked for the punishment instead. Zayn had thought that maybe he’d have a use around here, Sir, you know, until she decides to follow through.."

King Harry had stepped closer to Louis, eyeing him suspiciously. He knelt down to his knees and looked at him eye to eye. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Louis Tomlinson, Sir.” He said slowly, gulping when the man’s eyes looked up and down his facial features.

Without a word, King Harry stood up from where he was, turning back around to the plant he was facing before. His back was tense, and his breathing was off; Louis could tell he was seeping with anger. “Take him to the spare bedroom on the third floor. I do not wish to look at him at the moment. Dinner is six sharp, I advise you not to be late, pretty boy.”

-

Louis sat on his new bed, eying the room. For being enslaved, it was grand treatment. His room had a full sized bed, sheets already fixed - along with a pelt from what looks like wolf fur, laid over the sheets. There were large windows to the right of his bed, shining in light, it looked like a fairytale. If this were to be his jail cell, he wouldn't mind living in the castle. 

He'd been in his room for at least an hour. No one had came up since his arrival. Rather than Liam taking him upstairs, he'd been lonely. Though Louis had been thinking about his mother; he was confused as to what was exactly happening. This king wanted his mother, and somehow she betrayed them. None of it made sense, he was confused. 

A knock erupted from the door; his eyes snapped to the oak door, scratching out a 'come in'. He expected the Liam man or the Zayn one to walk in, but his expectations were wrong when a blonde-headed boy walked, holding what seemed to be clothing. 

"Hello," Blondie chimed while walking in. He made no eye contact as he came in and set the clothing on the desk. "King Harry would like for you to wear these."

Louis furrowed his eyebrows and stared over at the clothes. A black collar shirt along with a red tie and black slacks sat on the desk. King Harry wanted him to dress nice for a simple meal. 

"Why? It is a bit extravagant for one meal, isn't it? Besides, he made it very clear that he disliked me earlier. I don't understand why he's giving to me."

A chuckle left the blonde boy's boy as he turned around to meet Louis' gaze. "Harry likes for dinner to be an occasion to dress up. Then again, he loves dress clothes in general." Louis scrunched his nose up, grimacing. That had caused the man to laugh. "I'm Niall, and you are?"

Louis smiled and crossed his legs into Indian style. "Niall, hi. King Harry didn't say who you were bringing clothes to?"

He shook his head. "No, only explained that you're Jay's son and to bring clothing. Also, the size is just a guess. We figured you were about my size, hopefully it fits."

"I see. I'm Louis, by the way."

"Hello Louis. Anyways, I've got to get back working. I'll see you at dinner?"

Louis' eyes widened and he stood up. "No, wait!" Niall looked back at the blue-eyed boy questioningly. Louis wanted to sigh in relief. "Can you tell me what my mother did? She didn't tell us, I'm just really confused."

Niall furrowed his eyebrows. "Your mother didn't tell you? Yet you still sacrificed yourself? Christ, Louis."

"What happened? Please tell me it wasn't terrible."

"Your mother stole seven hundred and fifty euros from our kingdom." Niall said sternly. "She was suppose to come here and read Harry's fortune."

Louis furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't understand. I know my mother is pretty famous, but doesn't your kingdom have all the riches you could have?"

"You don't know where we are, do you?" The boy shook his head slowly, causing a sigh come out of Niall’s mouth. “Kingdom of Holmes Chapel, heard of it? Almost six years ago, the queen died and neither one of her descendants were old enough to rule. The King died long ago, there were no distant relatives. It was literally King Harry and his sister, Princess Gemma. When the people heard about the Queen, they were frightened, very scared for what would happen in the next few years. We’ve lost all money and are slowly trying to become a kingdom again since Harry is of age.”

“What happened?” Louis said in awestruck. He knew of Holmes Chapel and that it had been abandoned, but he never knew the cause of it.

Niall let out a soft laugh, a sigh following after. “After the news got around, everyone began to leave to different kingdoms, one after another. The only people that had actually stayed were Liam, Zayn, and me. Of course it didn’t happen all at once; in three years, the entire population was gone except for us. The reason we were last survivors was because our family worked with the royal family. Though now, it is just us.”

“Why did King Harry want my mother?”

“That is not my story to tell,” Niall laughed, heading towards the door. “Ask Harry when he’s better warmed up to you. Maybe he’ll tell you.”

-

Six in the evening struck when Louis planted himself in a seat on the long dinner table. He had on the outfit he was given to wear, it had almost been too baggy due to his petite body, but fit well besides that. At the other end sat King Harry, wearing a blazer over his button-up. Niall, Liam, and Zayn sat in the middle with dress clothes on as well. They did not avert their attention towards Louis’ direction.

Louis looked at the ravishing food in front of him, he was starving. He was exhausted, hungry, and felt almost ill from it. If his mother hadn’t have tried to run away, the boy would have ate and took a small nap by now. Though, he did not want to think of his mother at the moment.

“You’re late,” A deep voice spoke. It echoed through the open room, causing Louis to jump back in surprise. He looked up and found King Harry glaring at him once again.

However, Louis only shrugged his shoulders and gripped at the fork in front of him. “You said be at the dinner table at six. It is six, is it not?”

“Yes, but I meant for you to be in your seat before and ready to eat at six. I do not welcome people that are late into my castle.”

“Yeah? Kill me, then.”

He heard one of the men gasp in the middle as King Harry stood up from his chair and began to walk over to where Louis sat. A smirk set on the boy’s lips as he began to come closer. Before Louis knew it, Harry had grabbed his jaw and forced him to face the King. His hard glare only deepened as his fingers dug into the skin.

“I do not enjoy back talking, you need to learn that.” He demanded. “This is your first strike. You’ve got two more. I’d rather not live in the building as someone who believes they’re better than everyone. Got it?” His fingers let go of the blue-eyed boy and began to walk back to his chair.

“Beast.”

Harry froze. “What was that?” He turned around to meet Louis’ hard glare.

“I said, beast.”

“I’d watch that pretty mouth, if I were you.” He said slowly, scowling at the boy.

Louis scoffed. “What are you going to do, kill me? I’d rather die than being slaved around by some kind that thinks he’s the only one that matters. Yeah, well I was ready to die this morning, and still not afraid.”

“Unfortunately,” Harry raised his voice. “There is no violence in this kingdom, so I guess you’ll have to deal with me for the time being, possibly forever.”

“I want to go home to my family.” Louis sneered. He had a death grip on his fork, a glare set on the beast.

It had only made Harry want to laugh out. A smirk grew on his face as he began to walk closer to the blue-eyed beauty. “I’m afraid not. You’re mine now, you belong to me.” 

He was now standing next to Louis, the same smirk laid across his lips. With a chuckle, he reached his hand out and softly pressed his thumb into the boy’s cheek. Harry wasn’t going to let the beauty go anytime soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter three :) thank you to all the people who are reading. And since it's spring break from where I am, expect lots of updates!

Louis awoke the next morning by being rudely shoved. He let out a groan and curled his knees to his chest. A whimper left his thin lips when the person shoved the blankets away, leaving Louis' bare skin to turn into goosebumps. Thankfully, he had wore his brief shorts to bed, so it wasn't as embarrassing as it could have been. He opened his eyes, wanting to curse when he turned around to meet the King's gaze. 

"It's almost noon, get up." He spoke harshly. "There is clothes for you on the desk. Be in the library when you're done."

Harry didn't say anything else before he walked out of the room, slamming the door in the process. A sigh left Louis' mouth as he sat up from the bed; it had felt like laying on a cloud, how could he wake up? He ran a hand through his messy hair, blinking his eyes a few times to get used to the lighting. His eyes searched the room for the clothes until they landed on the blue collar shirt with a pair of black jeans along with it. 

Standing up, he sluggishly walked over and slipped on the clothes. He didn't bother with shoes as he walked out of the room, still buttoning his shirt up in the process. His eyes were heavy and his body felt weak. Louis didn’t get to sleep until two in the morning; his thoughts had taken over his mind, trying to figure out just simply why. 

Why had it been him? Why had it been his family? Why did his mother betray these people? Or better yet, what did they want from him? These same exact thoughts kept him up throughout the night, and he had not came up with an explanation. Louis couldn’t wrap his head around the situation. How he desperately wanted answers, but he knew well that no one in this castle would give them to him.

-

When Louis finally made it to the library, he was panting heavily from walking up and down the stairs. Finally, he found Niall and he directed him the correct way. He slouched over, resting his hands on his knees and took deep breaths.

“You’re late, again.” A deep voice spoke. Louis scowled at the man as he lifted his head up. The King sat on one of the sofas, papers in hand, an ink pen in the other. His gaze didn’t meet the boy’s. “You have an awful habit of that.”

Louis shook his head, returning his posture straight. “It is hard, considering I’ve been here for only a day and a half. No, I take that back. It has not even been twenty-four hours.”

A chuckle came out of the man’s mouth. Louis wanted to walk over there and slap the forming smirk off King Harry’s mouth. “I suppose that might be issue. I’ll have someone show you around later. As for now, could you start a fire? It’s starting to become chily.”

“You drug me out of bed to start you fire?” Louis asked in disbelief. He rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh as he walked over to the fireplace. The feathered-hair boy bent down on his knees, a picked up the matches that were lying by the logs. 

“Correction: I awoke you and forced you into the library because I do not trust you to wake up and go about on your lonesome without Liam or Zayn around. I have work to do and just cannot have you running around without someone there to watch.”

Louis rolled his eyes and struck the match. He threw it into the fire pit and watched as the logs slowly turned into flames. “Where would I go? I have nowhere to go, I don’t even know my way back to my house.”

He heard the King let out a sigh. “It’s not that, it’s more of me not wanting you to go into the city.”

“It’s abandoned. What would I do?”

“You just don’t get it, do you?”

The boy stayed quiet as he stared at the flames. He didn’t understand the problem with the city, or remotely leaving the castle outside. With a breath, he stood up from the fireplace and stared at the paintings above as he awaited Harry’s answer.

“I wish it was completely abandoned.” Harry spoke. “Instead, people come around everyday, ransacking every building - even though we had made sure everything was gone. I have Liam and Zayn go into town every other day to run them off. If I don’t, they’ll find themselves at the foot of the castle, causing havoc.”

“And how do I fit into that?” Louis asked.

“They would either kill you or hunt you down to the castle. I’d rather not have that happen, do you agree?”

The boy scoffed and turned around to meet the man’s gaze. “It wouldn’t bother me one bit, to be frankly honest, your majesty.”

Harry stifled a smile as he placed down his papers. “It would bother me, not only do you belong to me, but I do not have a death wish as well."

Louis glared as he walked to the couch sitting across the room from the King. His arms crossed when he sat down, eying the man. He didn't want to have any part of this castle, he regretted not choosing death. It would have been better, it would have been easier. Coping with not seeing his family again is harder than he thought. The boy's heart hurt, especially today. It felt like in the back of his mind, he had the small thought of his family there. 

Harry must have noticed the boy's absent minded, because he raised an eyebrow. "Thinking is a dangerous pastime. Penny for your thoughts?"

He shook his head and looked the other way. "I'd rather not tell you. You're a beast."

"I'm a beast? Elaborate."

Louis wanted to scream out, rip his hair out, and cry. "I'm taken away from my family in order for my mother to keep her life. I'm put to work in order to not be killed. I'm away from family because of this stupid thing. I'm going to die here. I don't want to be here, I hate royalty, I hate you."

The curly haired king let out a sigh as he rested his arms on his knees. He looked irritated and completely done with the boy. "You've been here for almost a full day. The only thing I've had you do was make a fire. Is it really that bad? I give you food, clothing, a bed to sleep on. I honestly don't see the problem."

"It's not the same without my family."

"Look," Harry groaned. "I'm not trying to make your family seem like it's rubbish, but if your mother really had not wanted you gone, she would have given the money back. Or, she could have kept her promise and came to the castle, to return before the day ended. Instead, she risked not only her life, but her family's as well. I don't know how a mother could just stand there and let her son go for her own mistake. Absolute rubbish, in my opinion."

The feather haired boy's mouth went agape. His eyebrows furrowed together and the rage began to stir. "Who are you to criticize my mother? You may be a king, but you cannot just say that about my mother!" Louis stood up with his fists clenched together. "You're a beast, awful, complete utter shit."

"A new pronoun. I'm astonished." Harry said nonchalantly. A smug smile set on his face as he stared at the boy in front of him. "It's my opinion; I have mine, you have yours, correct? Though, you should reconsider. Who really is the beast here?"

-

Louis sat on the other side of the dining table once again. He didn't touch the food in front of him, he wasn't going to eat, no matter how delicious it looked. The four chatted softly to each other while they ate; Liam was telling them about how they stopped the men at town from destroying buildings. Louis didn't understand the problem, the kingdom was abandoned. 

A sigh left his mouth when his stomach had grumbled. He hadn't ate all day, and he was feeling weak. However, he wasn't going to give in and eat. To be honest, Louis didn't know what he was going to accomplish by not eating, but he was determined. 

Harry must have said something, because the table went quiet and were all staring at the blue-eyed boy. Louis furrowed his eyebrows and looked up from the tablecloth, meeting Harry's gaze. The beast had an eyebrow raised, a smirk playing along his lips. 

"What are you staring at?" Louis grumbled, a glare set on his eyes when the man let out a chuckle. 

"I said, are you not eating? You haven't ate all day."

"No, I am not." 

Harry smiled. "Good to know. Anyways," 

Louis rolled his eyes and pushed his plate away from him. He set his head on the cool table and ignored the pain in his stomach. The others didn't say a word to him, and Louis was sure Harry was talking about him. He missed his family; they would always sit at the dining table, talking about their stories from the day, and his mother would talk about the fortunes she made. Of course before they left, she read their fortune before going back to work in local pubs. It was always fun, Louis thought. He just wished he could have that again. 

A sigh left his mouth when he heard one of the chairs screech, followed by the others. They were finally leaving. Louis lifted his head up from the table and wanted to groan when he saw the King standing in front of him - the same smirk as usual. 

"Hungry?" 

"Piss off," Louis groaned as he sat up from his chair and began to walk to the stairs. His arm was wrapped around his stomach to try to reduce the weakness. 

"I don't see why you just won't eat. You're obviously hungry."

The boy shook his head. "I don't need it. I don't need anything from you."

Harry chuckled. "Alright, if you're so sure. Also, the kitchen is blocked off at night if you try to come in the middle of the night. Last chance."

"I'm not eating. I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight."

"Are you sure?”

Louis spun around, irritation growing in his eyes. His hand were balled into fists and if it were possible, steam would have been coming out of his ears. “I’m positive! Quit saying things that will piss me off, for Godsake, it’s all you ever do!”

The King let out a laugh. “Is that so? I’m just asking if you’re hungry, you could always just go eat, no one is stopping you. Honestly, I’m looking out for you. I’d rather not have you too weak to get up from bed.”

“I’m fine, please leave me alone! Goodnight!” Louis yelled before stopping towards the stairs. 

Harry stood there, watching the boy - knowing that he’ll end up taking care of him the next day. A smirk played along his lips as he ran a hand through his soft curls. “Goodnight, Louis.”


	4. Chapter 4

When Louis woke up two days after he decided to not eat, his stomach felt like it was squeezing together, causing great discomfort. His mouth was dry and his body felt heavy. He groaned at the pain, feeling extremely hungry. The boy had a weak stomach, and was used to eating everyday. Louis felt bad for the lower class, if this is what it felt to not be able to eat. 

He sat up from the bed, feeling nauseous and ran a hand through his feathered hair. When he looked over to the desk, there were no clothes present for him. Either Harry didn't bring them yet, or he wasn't at all. He pressed his feet to the cold wooden floors, and stood up. Though when he did, his head was spinning - and if he did have anything in his stomach, he would have been retching on the floor.

Louis walked to the pile of his old clothes of his room and pulled out the pants that he came to the castle with. He slipped them on, then continuing out the door. The air hit his bare chest, causing bumps to appear on his skin. A whine came out of his mouth as the boy walked along the wall. He still had no idea where he was going, but he figured he'd end up seeing someone eventually. 

As the boy continued to walk along the wall, his footsteps began to slow down. At some point, he stopped and just rested his dizzy head against the wall. Louis let a whimper past his lips; God how he was hungry. But Louis didn't want to give in, no he had to make it clear that the King did not control him - that Harry had no say in what Louis desired. 

"Hungry?" A deep voice spoke. 

Louis jumped and turned around to meet Harry's gaze. He had clothing in his arms and a smirk laid across his mouth. "No thank you, I'm fine."

Harry hummed and handed the clothes to the boy. "If you're interested, there's a shower right there. You've been here a while and haven't got a proper shower yet. Also, if you're hungry - breakfast will be ready in a bit."

"M'not hungry. Stop asking me."

The King simply shrugged and walked past the boy to the stairs. Louis sighed and started walking to the bathroom. It had been a long time since he has bathed - and he's probably starting to smell. When he got in there, he placed the clothes on the sink and started running the water. The boy stripped down, groaning when he bent down. His stomach felt like it was dying - absolutely awful. 

"I just need to shower, I'll feel better after that." Louis whispered to himself as he stepped into the water. 

A sigh escaped his lips as the water ran down his body. He quickly lathered his body up with soap, and washed it off. Louis grabbed for the shampoo and ran it through his hair. It wasn't long until the boy was hugging the rail of the shower and moaning in pain. It was extremely painful now, he didn't know how long he could last now. His wet fingers gripped the rail to support himself; his legs were failing and his upper body was about to collapse. Groans were leaving his mouth, and each time his mouth opened, his stomach hurt worse. 

"Louis, are you okay in there?" He heard someone speak. 

Though the boy didn't answer, he was more focused on his breathing and the tremble in his legs. He was so hungry, very hungry. Never had he gone this long without food - and it hurt, it fucking hurt. His fingers were slipping now and he was most likely going to fall. 

"Louis-" 

A loud thud filled the small room and the squeak of the door followed after. Louis laid on the ground, trembling in pain. His knees were against his chest and it felt like there was a hurricane in his stomach. Whimpers were leaving his small mouth and his eyes were clenched shut. 

"Louis, what happened? Are you okay?" The voice spoke soft. It was Harry, it had to be. "You need to eat, alright? You're torturing yourself."

"I don't want to. I want to die." Louis whimpered, squeezing his knees. 

A sigh left the man's mouth as he turned off the water and cradled the boy. Slowly, he picked him and sat him on the toilet. Louis opened his eyes, staring at the man who was taking the clothes and smoothing them out. Harry handed him his undergarments, not daring to look at the boy. Louis quickly put them on and stared up at the older. He was being surprisingly nice, not making a remark about him. 

"Arms up." The man ordered. Louis obeyed and put his arms in the air. Harry slipped the white long sleeve over the boy's head, he reached his fingers out and pushed the wet strands of hair out of Louis's eyes. "I'm going to go get more comfortable pants, alright? Stay right here."

Louis nodded and leaned back on the toilet. Harry walked out of the room, leaving the boy in a dazed mess. His eyes were blurry and his body felt like a heavyweight. The room was spinning and his stomach was growling. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing to distract himself from the pain. It hadn't hurt this bad yesterday, the extreme pain was starting today. Louis hated himself for doing this. 

Harry came back with pajama bottoms and a cup of water. Louis noticed how his bottom lip was between his teeth and how the King was circling the metal ring around his middle finger. The boy looked down to the ring on his finger; it was given to him by his mother for his eighteenth birthday. Over a year ago, that was. 

"Feet up, please." The man finally spoke. Louis obeyed and put his feet up, watching as Harry dressed him. It was pathetic, he thought. He was having the man, whom he despised, dress him, pathetic.

When his clothes were on, louis brought a hand to his wet hair and slicked it back. Harry gave him a small smile before taking the glass of water and pressing it to his lips. Louis drank slowly, feeling the cool water fall down his dry esophagus. Harry brought back the cup and let out a sigh. 

"Eat,"

Louis shook his head, avoiding the man's gaze. "No."

"Louis,"

"Your Majesty?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I will force feed you, do not play games with me."

The boy sighed and closed his eyes. "I don't see why you care. I'm just a nuisance in the castle. I don't even do anything. Supposedly, I'm here to be slaved but I haven't even done anything yet, it's torture."

"The only one torturing you right now, is yourself." The man said simply. "Honestly, you're here until your mother sends back the money she owes - or she does what she was originally suppose to do."

Louis closed his eyes, feeling the tears prick. Talk of his mother was going to send him insane. He was extremely homesick and beginning to think of his mother as the villain. 

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Louis croaked. He swallowed back the tears and sucked in a breath. 

"Then let's go eat, yeah? Enough starving yourself."

Slowly, Louis shook his head and shakily stood up from the toilet. Harry took his forearm and began to walk him to the dining room. The man's eyebrows were furrowed as he walked the younger to the room. Louis noticed the he had a scar right under his jaw. It wasn't large; big enough for a dagger to fit in the area. Louis refrained from asking what had happened. 

The two made it in the room, after a five minute walk. The younger imagined that you could stay fit from wandering the castle everyday. Liam, Zayn, and Niall were sitting at the table, already talking their nonsense. They all looked over at the two and becoming quiet. Harry sat Louis in the chair, ignoring his men's stares, and walked over to his. 

"Everything alright?" Niall asked tentatively. 

The King nodded, running a hand through his thick curls. "Fine."

Louis frowned as he stared at the food in front of him. Egg on toast with bacon on the side. He was starving, and his stomach had growled at the sight of the food. Louis didn't want to eat, not at all. 

"Louis, eat." Harry demanded, his gaze on his food while he ate. 

The boy let out a sigh and grabbed his fork. He felt the other's eyes on him as he stabbed at the egg and ripped a piece off. Hesitantly, he brought it to his mouth and opened his mouth. Finally, he had placed the piece of egg in his mouth and began to chew. It felt abnormal at first from not chewing in a while, but after he swallowed the piece, he began to eat more ravishingly.

It wasn't long until Harry had asked if he wanted seconds - to which he declined his offer. It was enough, he thought. 

-

Birds chirped as Louis smiled at the large evergreen trees. Even though it had been cold outside, he was glad he wasn't stuck in a stuffy room anymore. Harry was behind him, digging up flowers to put into pots before winter struck. Though Louis was too busy walking along the pond. The water had stretched from the pavement to the outer circle of the trees. He wondered if it froze during the cold weather. 

"You're looking better than this morning." Harry spoke, glancing at the boy. "All your color is back."

Louis looked back at the man, fighting back the smile on his face. "I feel better."

"Good. Starve yourself again, and I won't help."

The smile had faded into a frown now. With a sigh, he sat down on the gravel pavement and started playing with the rocks. "Good, I didn't want you to help anyways."

"You didn't even give this place a chance before going on a hunger strike." The man said. 

"Excuse me for being scared. It's not exactly everyday that you're taken away from your family to an abandoned castle."

"Quit saying it's abandoned, alright?" Harry sighed. "I'm working on it. In a few months, I'll host a ball to welcome citizens to Holmes Chapel. Reason why I'm making the castle presentable." 

Louis only shrugged his shoulders. "Not many people will come back if you don't outdo the other Kings and Queens around here."

"You don't think I can do it? I'm quite generous, don't you think?"

“Sure.” The boy scoffed. “And then all the teenage girls will be swooning at your feet to become Queen Styles of Holmes Chapel. What would you do if they found out you were holding me hostage? Would you even consider letting me go before all the others left again? It would be such a shame.”

The sound of Harry laughing filled his ears, he didn’t say anything else after Louis’ outburst. The sounds of birds chirping were now between the two. Louis brought his knees to his chest and looked up at trees; he could see a bird’s nest at the top, with a bird inside. For being stuck here, Louis thought it was quite pretty. A sigh came from the man’s mouth. Louis looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

“When you said girls would be swooning at my feet to become Queen, I wouldn’t let that happen.” Harry spoke, a small smile on his pink lips. 

“Oh? And why is that? You found a woman already?”

The King shook his head. “Course not, I wouldn’t want to lead them on.”

"Lead them on? What do you mean?" The boy asked. He now had his elbows resting on his knees and his head in his hands.

His relationship with the man was weird; it had started out as a hatred between the two and then slowly turned into just bickering. Louis didn't even despise his company anymore. However, it didn't mean that he liked him any bit. It was only because he felt homesick, Louis thought. Nothing else. 

"Let's just leave it that, yeah? Not ready for elaborating just yet."

“You’ll eventually tell me.”

Harry cracked a grin and shook his head. “I’ll eventually tell you all my secrets.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> double update. you are welcome.

Weeks were passing quickly now; Louis usually woke up, followed Harry around (unwillingly), and ate. The climate was beginning to change as well, the cool air was turning into freezing and snow was beginning to fall from the sky. There was a change around the castle also, Harry had began to catch a cough. Louis thought it had been a simple cold, but after the second week he realized that it was permanent. Their bickering hasn't stopped either, only slowing down to probably once a day rather than their constant.

His birthday was coming up, along with Christmas after. The first Christmas without his family. He remembered how his sisters would race down the creaky stairs, barely a minute after sunrise, waking everyone in the house. The look of joy on their face, and the happy aura in the house. Now he had to begin new traditions with people he hadn't known his whole life. 

A sigh left the boy's mouth as he stared at the snow lightly falling from the sky. He was in the library, sitting across from Harry, who was reading. He had his reading glasses on, and Louis wasn't going to lie, he really looked nice in them. Liam and Zayn have been staying in more often now, Harry only had them go into town two times a week and that had made Louis more close with the two. And he was definitely noticing something between them. 

Louis remembered when a man walked through the castle one day, talking to Harry. He had been left alone, told to not go outside or torment anyone. The boy had overheard parts of the conversation as he was walking to the kitchen - earning an eyebrow raise from Harry, of course - and heard something about organizing a ball to welcome people into the kingdom as a whole. Whatever it was, Louis did not want to have any part in it. 

"Louis," Harry spoke, snapping him out of his gaze. "Do you know how to read cards?"

The boy raised his eyebrows, shocked that the man would ask something like that. "Well, I know the basics, but it has been a while. My mother showed me when I was small."

"Do you think you can read my fortune if I gave you the cards?" 

"Well - it doesn't work like that, you have to be connected to the card." Louis was gobsmacked, why would Harry need his fortune told? The man looked like he had his life under control. Only men who were headed towards a downfall had their fortune told. 

Harry nodded. "I had Zayn and Liam buy a deck when they went to London the other day. Can you see if you like them?"

"Okay."

The man smiled and stood up from the sofa and walked out of the room. Louis was confused as to what exactly was happening - he was confused why he needed a fortune and what was happening. He let out a breath and stared at the ceiling. Had this been what his mother had to do? Louis bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut to stop thinking of the woman; it was unhealthy and only made him grow anger towards her. 

The door creaked open and Harry walked through; he had a set of cards in his hand and a grin on his face. Louis knew it was him when he began to cough, it was so frequent that he began to memorize the sound of it. He handed the cards to the boy and knelt to the ground to look at him. Louis shuffled through the cards, smiling that he had gotten the Major Arcana deck. It was the kind his mother had. 

"Yeah, these will work." Louis nodded, flipping through. 

And he couldn't miss the grin on Harry's face when he had nodded. "Great! Let me finish a few things and we'll get to it, yeah?"

-

An hour later, Louis found himself sitting across from the King at a small table on the floor. He had the deck of cards in his hands, lightly shuffling them. Harry smiled at him, causing Louis to notice the deep indentations in his cheeks. The boy shook his head to remove the thoughts and placed the cards on the table. 

"Shuffle them." He demanded. 

"Me?"

Louis nodded and closed his eyes. "Yes, you have to transfer your energy into the deck. And after you shuffle, lay twelve of them out."

Harry nodded and began to shuffle the deck. Louis peeked an eye at him and realized how big his hands were compared to the small cards. Louis' fingers had barely touched his palm with them, but somehow they were smaller compared to the man. Harry began twelve out. Louis bit on his lip and reached out to the cards. He looked over at Harry, his eyes tracing over the emerald ones. 

"Which three should I uncover?" He asked tentatively. 

Harry stared down at the cards and took a deep breath. He pointed to the one right in the middle. "That one."

Louis nodded and flipped it over; Death. The reaper on the horse stared down at the pleading man. Meaning: Endings, beginnings, transformation. Harry only nodded and hovered his hand on the far right card. 

"This one." He muttered out. 

Louis reached over and flipped it over; Hermit. A man holding a lantern as he stared at the water below him. He held a walking stick and was dressed in a long robe. Meaning: Soul searching, being alone, inner guidance. 

Harry only nodded and moved on to the one on the far left. Louis flipped it over to reveal Chariot. The boy wanted to sigh in relief as he stared at the man in the chariot led by two asps. The meaning was control, willpower, and victory. 

"What does it mean? Am I okay?" The King asked worryingly. 

Louis nodded and pointed at the cards. "Death, meaning an ending, beginning or a change. Hermit, meaning soul searching, or inner guidance. And Chariot, meaning victory. From what I can tell, there will either be a change or an end from a certain someone - who just might be your soulmate - and will lead you on to victory. Do you understand this? My mother usually can tell what is happening to the person she's with. I just don't see why you need your fortune told."

Harry simply shook his head and waved the boy off. He stood up from the table, a small smile set on his lips as he dusted off his black slacks. "No worries, I'm fine apparently. I was just worried about something silly." The man walked over towards the door and let out a few coughs before speaking. "I will be preparing dinner, now. Will you go find Niall and tell him that I'd like to see him?"

The boy nodded, confused from what had just happened. Louis looked down at the cards, specifically the Death card. He had actually been scared for the man, hoping that nothing awful would happen to him. It was utterly insane. He was suppose to hate royalty, he wasn't suppose to be comfortable with him, to feel sympathy. Louis balled his fists on his thighs and stood up from the table. From spending almost two months in the castle, how could he had felt sorry for the beast. 

"Fuck," He whispered and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm so stupid."

Louis bit down on his lip and neared towards the door. This entire time, Harry had been trying to soften him down until he was vulnerable. He shook his head, feeling the irritation grow into throbbing pain in the middle of his forehead. 

He walked through the door, and began going towards the stairs. When he passed Niall, he didn't bother to say anything. Louis let out as breath as he walked down. His head was spinning, he didn't understand. 

Eventually, he found himself outside - the snow falling into his feathered hair. It was a bit cold, considering he only had on a flimsy long-sleeve. Louis didn't know what he was going to achieve by running outside, it would only get him sick. But he didn't care, Louis didn't want to be stuck inside any longer. He balled his fists into his sleeve and began to walk along the castle. From the months that he's been here, he hadn't found time to explore the outside much. The weather had been too bad, or Harry simply kept the boy in. 

A sigh left his mouth, the smoke following after. He looked around at the grey sky, a smile forming when a snowflake landed on his nose. Louis wondered why Harry didn't want him out as much, it was absolutely beautiful, he thought. Not only was the scenery great, it was as if his anger had drained. Though he wasn't going to go back in to face the man. Instead, he was going to enjoy the outdoors - even though the cold air was making bumps rise to his skin. 

He didn't feel like ever leaving. 

-

It had been almost an hour until he heard Harry calling his name. Louis sat on a frozen up bridge, staring at the snow fall on the frozen ice. He didn't bother to turn his head as the footsteps got closer to the boy. A sigh from the man made Louis raise an eyebrow. 

"We've been looking for you for thirty minutes." The man spoke. Louis could tell that his voice was slightly hoarse. 

He shrugged and played with the seam of his pants. "Obviously, you weren't looking in the right places."

"You can't just run off like that and not tell anyone. You could get hurt." Harry continued, "I was worried, thought you had ran off. Did you know these forests are packed with wolves? They would have mauled you. I even sent Liam and Zayn out to look for you, and here you are - outside in the snow, acting like it doesn't bother you."

Louis rolled his eyes. "Stop caring about me, it will only give you frustration."

"Obviously, you don't understand. How would you? You think the world revolves around yourself. Check again, Louis; it doesn't. I'm exhausted because of your actions you bring so much trouble into this castle. You're like a damn dog. I wish you would realize how ignorant you act sometimes."

When the boy stood up, ready to yell back, Harry opened his mouth again to speak. What came out, was definitely not as expected. The man began to cough hard, you could hear the congestion in his lungs and practically how much it hurt. Louis’ frown dropped and he began to tentatively walk to the hunched over man. 

“Harry, are you okay?” He spoke slowly.

As he was catching his breath, a few coughs slipped out of his lips. He shook his head and walked backwards - as if Louis held a disease. Once Harry returned to his posture, he looked at the younger with a glare. His eyes were burning holes into the boy.

“Go to your room.”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“I said, go to your room. I do not wish to look at you anymore.” Harry said, more harsh this time. “You are to stay in there until tomorrow. Niall will bring you food to eat, okay?”

“I don’t understand.” The boy scoffed. “I read your fortune, and then you punish me as if you were my mother. Unbelievable, honestly.”

Harry simply rolled his eyes. “I’m punishing you for being an ignorant narcissist. If I have to tell you to go to your room one more time, there will be consequences.”

Louis only crossed his arms and began to walk towards the doors. He looked back to glance at the man; he stood against the brick wall, his eyelashes lying against his milky white skin, and his pink lips parted slightly. The boy cursed at himself when he felt attracted to the pink flesh. He wasn’t going to like the royalty, he wasn’t going to like Holmes Chapel, and he surely wasn’t going to like King Harry Styles.

Never would he amount to that.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> celebration chapter because my one shot that was posted almost a year ago hit 10,000 hits.  
> Hurrah

Louis stared up at the white ceiling above him, a week had passed since he had read Harry’s fortune. He realized that next week was his birthday when he snuck a glance at the calendar on the wall of the kitchen. The thought of him spending his birthday alone was enough to send him into a depression. However, he was over his family; Louis imagined if his mother did want him back, she would have done something for him by now.

Currently, he sat in a family room by a fireplace. Zayn and Liam sat across from him, talking soft to each other. The two sat close enough to where their arms were touching, even though the sofa was large enough for them to have their own room. Louis didn’t understand, nor did he want to try.

Harry was out of Holmes Chapel; he mentioned something about going to the Kingdom of London today for business with the King when the man had woken Louis up early this morning. After the lot ate breakfast, the King announced he was leaving on the trip. Before leaving, Harry didn’t forget to tell Louis his restrictions, which included: staying inside at all times, staying close to someone, don’t touch anything unless permitted, and to not give anyone any trouble. Apparently, the trip would take a full day and that he wouldn’t be home until after midnight.

Louis didn’t understand why he felt his heart drop at the mention of it.

“Hey Louis,” He heard Liam speak. The boy raised his eyebrows at looked over at the brown-eyed man. "You know you don't have to hang around with us, right? We're not as strict as Harry is."

A sigh left Louis' thin lips. He shrugged his shoulders and brought his knees up to his chest. Louis felt alone without someone along with him to keep him company. At least when Harry was here, he actually talked to the smaller. "I don't want to upset Harry. If he found out, he'd be displeased - more than he is already."

"Sad puppy," Zayn chuckled. "That's what he is. He doesn't know what to do without Harry giving directions."

Louis rolled his eyes. "I am not a puppy. It only feels gloomy around here with no king."

"Should've seen the castle when the queen had died. Harry and Gemma locked themselves up in their rooms for two weeks straight. Wouldn't speak to anyone, and when we brought them food, they looked absolutely awful. Probably the worst year Holmes Chapel has been through." Liam sighed. 

"Gemma? Harry's sister?" 

Zayn raised an eyebrow. "I forget you don't know about her sometimes. You two would have been great friends. Back when she was here, she’d pull the most brutal pranks on Harry for a good laugh. Though that was years ago. Unfortunately, she packed her bags and left the kingdom. She said that she wasn’t the type for royalty and went off her way towards Manchester. While she was there, Gemma married a man, not long after she had a child. I remember Harry was angry for days.”

The younger had a fond smile on his face. “Were they close?”

“Inseparable,” Liam scoffed. “Even when Gemma played a nasty prank on him, Harry would be laughing with her later on. I miss having them together, it was such a peaceful time.”

The raven-haired man nodded in agreement. “But before Louis came, it was awful. The castle reeked of depression. I didn’t know it could have a smell. See Louis, you’re needed here. You keep Harry from shutting himself out.”

“It feels like he needs to babysit me daily.” Louis said, frowning at the two.

Liam shrugged. “What ever it takes to keep him from becoming isolated.”

“What about Niall? Or you two? Can’t you guys keep him company? I really don’t see how I come into action.” 

Zayn rolled his eyes and leaned onto Liam - to which the brown-eyed man willingly placed his arm over him. “Niall’s busy all the time with cleaning and laundry. As for Liam and I, we cannot be around Harry as much as we can due to guarding the Kingdom. And at times like this, alone time is very much appreciated. Right Li?”

Liam gave him a smile, his cheeks turning slightly pink. Zayn grinned up at the man, then softly pressed his cheek to his side. The boy stared at the two with furrowed eyebrows; the two were open with each other, to the point where they looked as if they were in a relationship. Louis didn’t know why his heart ached at the men in front of him. He didn’t understand why he had felt a sting of jealousy in the pit of his stomach.

“Are you two gay?” He blurted.

It was as if time had paused; Liam and Zayn stared at the feather-haired boy dumbstruck from what he said. After what seemed to be years, Liam opened his mouth to speak. “Yes we are. I thought you knew, I apologize.”

Louis couldn’t keep the words in his mouth, they all began to spiral out. “Does Harry know? You could be killed.”

Zayn began to giggle, actually giggle. The other man looked away from Louis, chuckling as his face began to heat up. Louis sat there, eyes furrowed, and began to get frustrated at the two. At this age, no one would be allowed to be homosexual. Those who were open with their sexual orientation were put in the hospital and treated, or even death sentenced. Yet the two in front of Louis were giving each other looks that married couples would give to their spouse.

“Louis,” Liam began, chuckling as Zayn began laughing harder. “Harry’s the one who wanted us to be together.”

“Excuse me?”

Zayn cackled even louder and tried to speak. “Harry, he’s… I can’t believe you just asked that. Are you two gay? You could be killed.””

“Be nice, Zayn. He didn’t know.” Liam chuckled.

Louis shook his head, an irritated sigh releasing from his mouth. “If you’re going to laugh at me, then I’m leaving. Excuse me for having a misunderstanding.” He stood up and began to walk towards the door. Zayn began to laugh again, speaking nonsense as the boy reached the door.

“Louis, why don’t you ask Harry when he gets back?” Liam asked nicely. 

The younger rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. He wasn’t going to sit there and be laughed at for a simple question.

-

"Niall, are you gay?" Louis asked as he walked into the kitchen.

The blonde-headed boy began to choke on his water; he wrapped an arm around his mouth and gave Louis a bewildered look. After he had calmed down, he muttered a curse and shook his head. “Jesus Louis, what do you mean, am I gay?”

“Liam and Zayn. They’re gay and Harry’s apparently fine with it. Are you?”

“No, Jesus, no Louis. I’m not gay.” Niall told him. “I am attracted to women, okay?”

Louis sighed and jumped up to sit on the counter as he watched Niall set down his water, continuing to wash the stove. Blondie raised an eyebrow at the boy once he let out, yet another, sigh. The feather haired boy slouched against the wall, muttering nonsense of Liam and Zayn.

Niall let out a laugh. “Is everything okay? You seem so out of it since Harry’s gone.”

“Why is everyone saying that? I am fine without the stupid king. It has only been three hours, it’s like he hasn’t left at all.” Louis pouted.

Blondie rolled his eyes. “Get over yourself. You’re obviously looking for someone stick to because you’re so dependent on someone to be around you. And don’t say you’re following Harry’s rules, since when do you actually do that? Harry knew you weren’t going to listen to him anyways, but here you are trying to find someone. You’re too cute. Like a little puppy.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Thought you said you weren’t gay.”

“I am not gay, but you just have that cute appeal. Maybe that’s why Harry decided to keep you around.” 

-

The evening came slow due to Louis being kicked out of the kitchen by Niall and Liam and Zayn being locked up in their room, he had absolutely nothing to do. He spent most of the day in the library, reading some of Harry’s books. Louis had almost cried because he saw that Harry had copies of the most famous philosophies. He wanted to live in the library forever.

When dinner time came around, Niall brought him an apple and apologized for no dinner. He told Louis that none of the others knew how to cook, and that Harry did the cooking. Louis only shrugged it off and continued reading while eating the fruit. And when he finally put the book down, it was eleven in the evening. 

Louis sat up from the sofa and stretched his bones out. His joints were stiff from staying in one place for several hours. Once his eyes trained on the wall, he realized how exhausted he was. Louis didn’t even know that reading could become so draining. A knock erupted his thoughts, and when he looked over, Niall stood halfway through.

“Are you just about to go to bed?” He asked.

The boy nodded and yawned. “Was just about to go up there.”

“On your way there, could you put this on Harry's bed?" Niall asked and handed the object to Louis. "When you go upstairs, his room is on the right. The poor guy must have left it on the dining table this morning."

Louis nodded and looked at the object, it was a little notebook. "Sure, yeah. Why can't you though?"

Blondie yawned. "I needed to check up on something outside before Harry gets back. And then I was going to crash on one of the sofas in the front. Sorry about that."

"It's fine, it won't take me long." 

"Okay, goodnight Louis."

Louis gave him a smile and then looked down to the notebook in his hand. After he was sure Niall was gone, he opened the black book. The boy didn't know why he was upset when he realized that it was only a receipt book. It had information on what the King previously bought - which wasn't surprising, because Harry usually made conversation about it with Louis. He didn't know why he was upset when he realized it wasn't something personal. Louis didn't understand why he would want to read it in the first place. 

He shrugged it off and began walking out the door. As he walked up the stairs, he listened to Niall downstairs, making racket as the blonde made his way outside. Louis let a yawn slip past his mouth once he reached the top of the stairs. Not only was he tired, he was out of shape from doing completely nothing for months. 

He found Harry's room fairly quickly and walked in. Louis looked around, taking in his surroundings. The boy had walked past the room several times a day, but never had walked inside. Louis laid the book down on the queen sized bed. Ironic, the man was a king but had a queen sized bed. He let his fingers run across the fabric that laid across the bed; it was soft and inviting. Biting his lips, Louis walked over to the side and pressed his arse against it. The softness of it was enough to make him moan. He then slowly propped his legs up on the mattress and pressed his head against the pillows. Louis wanted to cry out because it was that comfortable. He wondered why his bed wasn't as comfortable and cursed Harry. 

But before he knew it, his eyes were shutting and he drifted off to sleep. 

-

Harry stumbled into his room, wanting to groan out from the burning sensation in his eyes. He awoke early in the morning, and now the man was going to bed past from what he's usually gone to sleep. The King sluggishly unbuttoned his shirt, throwing it to the side and made a mental note to clean up in the morning. His pants slid down his thighs and a sigh of relief left his mouth. The pants had been too tight for Harry's liking, but somehow he managed to make it through the day. He step out of the fabric and opened his closet to take out a large sweater. 

He quickly slipped the sweater on and turned around to go to bed, but what he saw was unexpected. There was someone in his bed, bundled up with his blankets. Harry furrowed his eyebrows and crept over to the lump. He knelt down and moved the blankets slightly away from their face. Harry imagined that Liam and Zayn had a fight, so one of them were sharing beds with the man. 

No, he was wrong. 

Louis was in his bed. 

"Louis?" He spoke softly. Harry reached out his fingers to move the strands of hair in front of his eyes. "Louis, wake up."

The boy scrunched his nose and shuffled around before his blue eyes met Harry's green ones. His eyes immediately furrowed and he groaned. "What do you want? It's still dark outside."

"You're in my bed."

With that, Louis' eyes went wide and he jolted up. "Shit, sorry. I'm getting up, sorry."

A grin found its way to Harry's plum lips. He shook his head and stood back to his feet. "No worries, go ahead and get some more sleep, I'll be on the other side. Was just curious why you were in my bed is all."

The boy sighed and laid back down on the bed. Harry could tell he was exhausted. The man slipped into the other side of the bed and let out a soft moan when the warm blankets touched his cold skin. His eyes immediately closed and a small smile set on his face. Harry didn't realize the bed could get more relaxing with someone beside him. It was bliss. 

"Niall told me to bring your receipt book to your room before going to bed. I placed it on the bed but it must have fallen off by now. Curiosity got the best of me and I fell asleep in your bed." Louis spoke quietly. 

Harry chuckled and let a yawn out. "Enough, go to sleep. Too early for talking."

Louis hummed. "Something we agree on. Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight Louis."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> double update? yes

It was before sunrise when Louis woke up. The moonlight shone through his window and making a dim light in the room. Somehow the grey clouds parted enough for the moon to squeeze in. For the last five days, it had been snowing. Louis wasn't allowed to go outside due to the pond freezing up and causing it to be dangerous. 

Though it didn't matter anymore, he was done. He was completely done with causing mischief around the castle. There was not any reason to continue, the castle was his home, it was his family now. The first birthday with a new family. 

Eventually Harry came up to bring the boy clothes to wear. He noticed that Louis had been awake and began to talk to him about the holiday. The castle was hosting a party for the Christmas time; after everyone has their Christmas, the day after they would make their way to Holmes Chapel to have a ball. Of course Harry didn't forget to mention that would help bring back the population in the kingdom, and that the King of London would be helping to ensure that it goes accordingly to plan. 

After their small talk, Harry went off to go cook breakfast. Louis got dressed and mindlessly stared out the window. Where the sun was poking out of the ground. He wondered if his mother would be thinking of him; he wondered if his sisters asked about him. Louis wondered what the answer would be. Months had it been, months since she could have done something. It was completely useless. Eventually, he got over himself and went to breakfast. 

"Happy birthday to me." Louis mumbled to himself.

He sat at the dining table, picking at the oatmeal in front of him. Harry sat across from him, talking slightly to Niall about the holiday. Zayn and Liam were out in town, making sure no one comes through. A sigh left his lips as he pushed his bowl away from him. Louis wasn't hungry, and this time he actually did not have an appetite. The King must have noticed the younger's actions, since he furrowed his eyebrows. 

"Something on your mind?" He asked sincerely. 

Louis shook his head. "It's nothing."

"Come on, you can tell us anything." Niall injected, a grin on his face. The younger wanted to laugh at Blondie; the oatmeal had somehow gotten around his whole mouth, except for in. Niall was such a messy eater, it was unbelievable. 

"Today is my birthday." The boy said quietly, he looked away from the two and played with the sleeve of his sweater - or should he say Harry's sweater. It was baggy against his body, yet comfortable. He didn't complain, Harry had put it out for him to wear. 

"Lou," Harry drawled out. The boy didn't ignore the fact that his heart was thumping at the nickname and his blush was traveling up his neck. He refused to let the King see his reaction. "Why didn't you tell us sooner? Now I feel awful."

Louis shook his head. "It's not important, it doesn't matter."

"It's your birthday." Niall scoffed. "Of course it's important."

The boy sighed and slumped in his chair. Harry and Niall stared him down, their facial features not changing. Louis only scrunched up his nose and looked away from the two. He didn't understand why they were worried about his birthday; Louis was trouble. He felt as if he were a child needed to be babysat everyday. Louis was obnoxious, self-centered, and most importantly, confused. 

"Niall, what do we do?" Harry said after a minute of silence. 

Blondie shrugged. "Throw a party?"

Louis' heart broke a little when Harry whispered. "Can't exactly do just that, Niall."

"Fuck, okay. What do you usually do?"

The younger let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't liking the attention and interrogation he was being put through. Louis didn't even understand why they cared. He barely celebrated his birthday with his family, it was only that he felt lonely. The birthday didn't matter, it was that Louis felt lost in thought and as if he were an orphan. He almost lost it when Harry reached out and placed his hand on his own. 

"My mother," Louis breathed. "She usually cooked a big dinner and then we had ice cream for dessert. But it's okay, I don't need any attention. Just my birthday; why would a twenty year old man need a celebration for his birthday. Insane."

As Louis dryly laughed, Harry frowned at him. "Don't think like that, I don't want you become depressed. Besides, we'll have a big dinner - well we already do, but of your choice. What would you like?"

"Please say Mincemeat Cake. My mouth is already watering." Niall whined. Louis smiled at him and bit down on his lip before speaking. 

"I had this meal whenever I went out to eat with my mother at a nice restaurant. I don't remember the name, but it had mutton and was almost a soup but it was much more. It was delicious."

"I think I know what you mean." Harry smiled. "I'll send Liam to town to catch the supplies when they get back. Would you like a cake?"

The boy let out a sigh. "I'd like for you to not make a big deal out of it, Harry. It's nothing, doesn't matter."

Harry stood up from the table, not bothering to finish his meal and began to walk towards the kitchen. Louis furrowed his eyebrows and turned back to Niall. The blondie shrugged his shoulders and let a smile play at his lips. 

"Are you ignoring me?" Louis shouted out.

“If you didn’t want him to do anything, then you shouldn’t have said anything.” Niall began to laugh. “He does this all the time, always making something extravagant for a birthday. I don’t understand why, though. He’s always been like this, even when his mother was here.”

“He threw her a party?”

Niall smiled, pushing his food away from him and stood up from the table. “Bigger than a party.”

-

Louis sat on one of the counters in the kitchen as he watched Harry make a cake. Liam and Zayn came back earlier, to which Harry instructed them to go get the supplies for food from the closest town. That had been an hour and a half ago, leaving Louis in anticipation. He watched Harry mix the ingredients, a small smile playing against his pink lips. The younger wanted to roll his eyes.

“You’re lucky,” Harry hummed, the smile growing bigger. “I’ve always wanted my birthday to fall on a holiday. Always, always, always have. Ever since I was a little boy.”

The boy shrugged and leaned back against the wall. His hair fell slightly in his eyes, he made a mental note to have it cut sometime soon. “Nothing special, really. My little sisters used to get mad when my mother would buy me two gifts. Then mum had to explain to them that it was my birthday, and that they got gifts on their birthdays as well.”

“Was she a great mother?”

“Yeah, she was.” Louis frowned and began to think back. “Always made sure we were happy, made sure we had food to eat, made sure we were healthy. Even though everyone told her she was a witch, she didn’t let them say anything about us. Usually, she wouldn’t go into town with us unless she needed to - mum was always scared of them thinking we were witches.”

Harry looked over at Louis and smiled. “She sounds lovely.”

“What was your mother like?”

The King looked stunned, as if he weren’t expecting the question and his smile slowly faded from his lips. His hands froze and his green eyes stared at the bowl with chocolate in it. There was no emotion written on his face, it was as if he were numb. Louis was going to change the subject until Harry began to speak.

“She was very kind, powerful, almost like a saint. Even though she was always busy with the Kingdom, she never forgot about my sister and I. On days she would be so busy and there was nothing she could do, she would send someone to watch us. Gemma and I made sure that person’s life hell.”

His smile slowly lifted back on his lips and his eyes crinkled at the corners. “Sometimes I would get mad at one of the servants and I’d be running to my mother, wanting her to fire them because they would take my things because Gemma would be fighting with me about it. My mum would give me a long speech about how it wasn’t nice to fire people because they didn’t want Gemma and I arguing. She was always so accepting, I suppose that’s where I got it from.”

Louis bit on his lip, remembering that Harry had accepted Liam and Zayn as gay. While others would have had them killed, Harry let them live in the castle. “You accepted Liam and Zayn, other kingdoms would have had the church burn them alive. Why did you do that? Why did you let them stay here?”

“Kind of don’t exactly have a church and need the work. Otherwise, they would be burned to the stake.” Harry said, looking Louis straight in the eye.

The boy gulped and his heart had dropped to the pit of his stomach. He was scared that Harry would find out about his sexuality; how he wished he wasn’t gay, it was disgusting towards him. Louis desperately wanted to like women, he really did. Through his early teens, he dated so many women to get the thought of men out of his head. When he reached the age eighteen, Louis realized there was absolutely nothing he could do about it, and he was destined to be killed.

All Louis could mutter out to Harry was a tiny ‘oh’. His head was swimming, he knew Harry would have him sent to another town to be murdered if he ever found out. Louis didn’t do anything around in the castle, he practically just scrounged off the King.

“Kidding, kidding.” Harry chuckled. “Should have seen the look on your face.”

“You tricked me!” Louis scoffed. 

The King reached over to ruffle the boy’s hair and smiled. “I didn’t have them killed because it’s not right, Louis. How will it fix anything? Some people will simply just like the same gender, and that’s that. I’m sure London and I will have a conflict over it.”

Louis hesitated before asking another question. “Is that why you’re not already married?”

“Yes, that is why.” Harry said quietly, the smile not leaving his lips.

The King of Holmes Chapel was gay, he liked men; Louis wanted to faint. He didn’t understand why his heart was thumping in his chest as if he ran a mile with no break. Harry didn’t look at the boy as he grabbed a pan for the cake and poured the chocolate mix into it. Louis hopped off the counter and stared at the man as he placed the cake into the oven, then wiping his hands onto his pants.

“Twenty-five minutes, we wait.” Harry muttered to himself.

“Why not any longer?”

Harry turned around and smiled. “It just wouldn’t be right. Like if I were to marry a woman.”

Louis rolled his eyes, trying to fight off the smile forming on his lips. “Humorous.”

“I try to be.”

-

Louis laid in his bed that night, staring at the ceiling. The small little party Harry had was enough to leave the boy smiling for the rest of the night. Not only that, but the food was even better than the restaurant. The cake was absolutely perfect as well, and knowing that Harry baked it for him made it even better. He couldn’t believe that he was contempt with his living arrangements. Before he got here, he hated the thought of royalty, he hated everything about it. And now, he was okay with it.

Louis was almost happy to live with royalty.


	8. Chapter 8

"Flowers, flowers, we need flowers." Harry whispered to himself, a slight cough slipping from his lips afterwards. 

Louis sighed and watched Harry pace around the room. He swung his tiny feet back and forth as he looked around at the ballroom. The Christmas ball was today and to say Harry was nervous was an understatement - Harry was literally having a panic attack as he ran around, trying to make everything "perfect". Louis hadn't even said ten words before the man sat him down in the room and began talking to himself. 

Apparently, the younger was suppose to act like a tiny servant boy during the party - which basically meant to help Niall prepare the food, drinks, and make sure everyone was content. It didn't bother him, as long as he wasn't just sitting there and watching the people dance around. The thought alone made Louis feel lonely. He wanted to be able to be with someone, to dance around and to act like complete idiots together, and at the end of the night, he wouldn't regret anything. If he weren't gay, this would be able to happen. Instead, Louis is stuck in an open cage in his own mind, unable to find the courage to come out. 

He quickly shook the thought out of his head and looked back at Harry. The man was organizing the flowers in the vases on the tables. Louis wanted to laugh at how panicked he was, and how the people wouldn't even care if their flowers weren't the same color or have the same amount of petals as the others.

"Harry," Louis called out. "You're going to break if you keep worrying. Everything is fine."

Harry didn't turn his head as he spoke. "I'm almost done with this, just have to make it perfect."

"They won't care if it's not perfect. Honestly, decoration in a certain place is last on their mind."

"It's not about their preference, it's mine, Louis. I just want everything in order, to be perfect. The interior must reflect on the Kingdom." The King muttered. "If everything goes according to plan, I'll hire someone to make the houses around livable. Which won't be hard, since we've already preserved most of them."

Louis sighed and leaned back; he didn't like it when Harry was busy. It was boring to him, and he hated just sitting there helpless. And he couldn't get up and just leave, Harry would eventually notice and get angry. Not only that, but everyone else is busy as well. Niall is tidying up the entryway, and lovebirds are in town making a clear direction to the castle.

What has been worrying the boy is that ever since Harry woke up this morning, he'd have a cough attack. He was stressing himself so much, that he's gotten sick off of it. Though really, he's had the cough a few weeks before Louis even knew about the ball. It was worrying, Louis knew that it wasn't normal for the man. He surely didn't have the cough when the boy arrived. However, if it didn't bother the others, it didn't bother Louis. 

"Harry, this is boring." Louis complained. 

The man didn't respond as he walked over to the table on the other side of the room and rearranged the china cups. Louis let out a whine and sprawled his body across the long table. His hand rested on his tummy and he frowned when he realized he had been gaining weight lately. He felt disgusting with more fat than he actually had. The boy quickly moved his arm to not think anymore about it and looked over at Harry. Louis wondered how he keeps his weight in order. It was like he never lost nor gained weight. Living in the castle with extravagant meals were really taking a toll on him - he made a mental note to try to exercise a bit. 

Louis turned his head back to the ceiling. "Harry, I'm starting to get fat. I need to start being active."

There was a sigh that filled the quiet room. The clacking of footsteps came near Louis, and when he knew they were beside him, he turned his head to meet Harry's gaze. His eyes were irritated and his eyebrows were knitted together. 

"Up, I need to put the tablecloth on here and put the decorations on."

The boy frowned. "Are you listening to me?"

"To be frank, Louis, I'm not. Now please get up." Harry stated, not a change in his facial expression. 

"Fine," He grumbled and sat up from the table and walked over towards the door. "I don't see why I have to be with you. Obviously you have everything under control, and apparently I'm just a bother."

"Louis, please. I'm trying to do this. Quiet please."

Harry took the tablecloth from the side of the table and unfolded it, pressing it to the smooth surface. Louis had his arms crossed and a pout laid across his lips - he was irritated, and wanted to just go up to his room. The King mumbled to himself as he worked on the creases of the cloth, his eyebrows in a tight furrow. Louis didn't know whether to scream or cry out in frustration. 

"Harry," He said. Silence filled the gap between them. Harry continued to press on the creases. "Harry!"

"What, Louis? What the hell do you want? Do you expect me to cradle you all day? I'm busy, do you not get that?" The King shouted, his eyes snapping to Louis'. His eyes were pressed into a glare, his hands in the air as if he were going to strike the younger. 

The boy's face fell and the two stared at each other for a few minutes, not speaking a word. When Louis felt the tears burning his eyes, he saw Harry's face crack. Before he could do anything, Louis began to run. His feet harshly pressed on the floor and his hands were wiping away the tears threatening to spill. He didn't know why he was getting so emotional over such an ignorant thing. The younger simply didn't want to be talked down by Harry. He felt like a child. 

Louis found himself at the door of the library; his fingers wrapped around the doorknob and he weakly walked in, closing the door behind him. He felt his lip quiver and he had never felt any more homesick than he does now. Louis desperately wanted to be home with his mother and his little sisters. And what made him want to break down worse was the fact that he couldn't even remember the sound of his mother's voice. 

The boy whimpered and walked over to the sofa, immediately laying down, curling into a small ball. He hated it here, he hated the fact that he was beginning to get used to his surroundings, he hated the fact that he just wanted to be cared for. Everything was so overwhelming, and he just wanted to curl up by his mother's side and cry. Louis wanted to fight to be with his family, not accept the fact he couldn't do anything. There must be someway he could escape, some way. 

He didn't want to be treated as if he needed a babysitter constantly. 

-

Hours had passed since Louis ran out of the ballroom. It was now an hour and a half before people would begin showing up. In those hours, Harry had finally finished setting up the tables and decorating them. Even though he did finish quicker without Louis around, he still felt lonely without him. He even felt bad for ignoring the poor boy. Harry was going to run after the feather-haired boy, but he figured that the younger wouldn't want him to look at him. Therefore, Harry stayed and finished what he had started. 

With a sigh, he walked out of the room and looked around. The boy couldn't have gone far, and Harry knew he wouldn't go far as to leave the castle itself. Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, regretting making the boy runaway. He probably felt belittled by the way Harry treated him. If the King wasn't so caught up in the decorations, maybe then Louis wouldn't have reacted the way he did. 

Niall began to walk by, laundry basket in hand. Maybe Louis had been with him. 

"Niall, have you seen Louis?" Harry asked. 

The boy turned around and frowned. "No, I haven't. Is everything okay?"

Harry nodded. "He just ran off a couple of hours ago is all. Don't know where he went."

"Should we be concerned?"

"No, he wouldn't leave." The King sighed. "I'm sure he's in the castle somewhere."

Niall then nodded and continued to walk away. The man let out a sigh and brought his hands up to rub his temples. He began to walk towards the stairs; the only places he knew to look was either the library or the boy's room. Harry bit down on his lip, already trying to form an apology for the younger. Embarrassing, he thought. The king is mustering up an apology because he accidentally hurt the poor boy's feelings. He knew Louis was most likely going to be stubborn and will not understand. Nonetheless, Harry still needed to apologize. 

Eventually he found himself at the library door, his fingers grazing against the knob. Harry silently prayed that Louis was in there, and that he wouldn't have to search more in depth. The cold metal pressed against his hand as he slowly twisted it open. He didn't want to startle the boy if he was in there. The door squeaked open and Harry walked in, eyes immediately landing on the feather-haired boy that laid on the sofa. 

"Lou," Harry tentatively called out. "Are you awake?"

When he didn't get an answer, he sauntered forward and kneeled in front of the boy. His eyes were closed and his hair was fanned in front of his face. Harry wanted to giggle at how his lips pouted out. He brought a hand to move the hair out of the younger's eyes, smiling at how his nose scrunched at the touch. 

"Lou, wake up. You'll be up all night otherwise." He said softly. 

The boy shifted around before his blue eyes slowly found Harry's. He looked confused, his eyes furrowed and his mouth slowly closing. Louis' eyes then traveled from the man's green eyes to the hand that laid in front of his face. 

"What are you doing?" He asked, voice scratchy from having his mouth agape during sleep. 

"Was looking for you. Wanted to apologize for snapping at you."

Louis didn't answer as he rolled over to his back side and brought his hands up to his face, rubbing his eyes. The King watched the boy as he yawned and stretching his limbs out. Silence filled the air between them, there was slight tension, but Harry could tell the younger was simply too tired to be stubborn.

“Forgive me, please?” Harry asked.

The boy rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Yeah, forgive you. What do you want?”

“We need to start cooking food, setting tables, and we need your help. I'm really sorry, Louis."

The boy didn't respond, instead he sat up from the sofa and rubbed his eyes. Harry stayed kneeled down beside him, just watching the smaller wake himself up. The King found himself in some sort of trance as Louis feathered his hair away from his face. It was beautiful, he thought. Louis then stood up and began to walk towards the door. It felt like Louis was trying to get Harry flustered by the way he move his hips while walking. He quickly pushed the thoughts away when Louis turned around and his hard, stubborn gaze met Harry's. Louis was straight, he liked women. The King shouldn't lust over a man that wouldn't return the feeling - it was completely hopeless. He was snapped into reality when the boy spoke. 

"Are you just going to sit there or stare at me?"

Harry shook his head and scrambled to his feet and began to walk his way. Louis simply rolled his eyes and continued out the door. 

This boy would be the death of him. 

-

Louis frowned as he looked down at his outfit for the evening; it was classic butler wear, and he absolutely hated it. A white button down, along with a long black blazer to go over it, and black slacks. It was tight around his abdomen, causing him to feel too large for it. As people began to enter, Harry left Zayn to fix up Louis’ hair as Liam and him went to lead people to the right places. A little curl was done on top of his head - nothing to compare to Harry’s, of course.

He had been carrying heavy trays of food to each individual tables, along with the help of Niall. Louis wasn’t going to lie, their service was rubbish due to the lack of help. Zayn and Liam were assigned to keep people out of places they shouldn’t be. So far, a dozen of people had been caught exploring the castle. It was such a mess. 

Harry, on the other hand, was far too busy speaking with the King of England all night to even notice their suffering on keeping everything in order. An hour and a half had the party been going on, it was almost over. Louis was literally counting the minutes.

“Louis,” Niall spoke. “Take these to Harry’s table, please. Don’t mess it up either, it has to be perfect. This is the last tray, thank God.”

The younger grabbed the tray of Shrimp Bruschetta and nodded. He began to walk out of the kitchen, and towards the ballroom. It was a lengthy walk, and he cursed whoever designed the castle - if he had one euro every time he accidentally dropped one of the food items, he would be able to pay off his mother’s debt. 

Eventually, he made his way to the ballroom and went directly to the King’s table. Harry and the other man were chatting, both looking very comfortable with each other. Albert, his name was, Louis thought. And beside him sat Queen Victoria, looking elegant as always. 

Louis took in a deep breath once he got towards the table. Harry gave him a small smile as he placed the tray down onto the table. The King of England let out a laugh, and immediately took a bruschetta from the platter and munched it down. 

He bowed down slightly and muttered. “Your majesty,”

“Thank you, Louis.” Harry whispered and went back to the royal family. As he was about to turn around and go back to Niall in the kitchen, the other King had spoke. 

“You know, we don’t allow our servants to be so young in London.” He spoke and pointed at Louis. “Can’t trust them; they’re always trying to steal something. How old are you, boy?”

Louis gulped and fumbled with his fingers. Harry eyed him down, and it was only making him even more nervous. “Just turned twenty, sir.”

The man shook his head and sighed. “So young, too young to be doing what you’re doing. Remember when we hired the twenty-two year old, Victoria? Was such a mess, she tried to steal Victoria’s jewelry. I’m sure the poor girl regrets it by now. Keep an eye out for him, Harry. Never know what he’ll do.”

Harry then let out a small laugh, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Louis wouldn’t do that, I know him too well. All of the servants here are close to me, I know them too well.”

“You never know, Harry. He does look a little shabby. Just be cautious.”

Louis’ palms were sweating by now and his heart was beating quickly. He didn’t look like a thief, did he? The boy was a bit upset to think he gave off that appearance. Just because he was young did not mean that he would actually steal from royalty. He was smart, and besides that, why would he steal from the place he lives in? It would be ridiculous.

The boy bowed down and excused himself to the kitchen. He was grumbling in the hallways, about how he was not a thief, and he had been educated enough to not do anything that absurd. When he walked into the kitchen, he slammed the door shut and leaned against a wall, crossing his arms.

“What the hell, Louis? I almost dropped the water.” Niall scolded, holding up the pitcher.

“Do I look like a thief? Do I give off that aura, Niall? The King in there said I would most likely steal from Harry, in my face. He told Harry to watch out because I might take something of his, due to how young I am. I am not stupid; on the contrary, I’m well educated.”

Niall then rolled his eyes and shoved an empty pitcher in his hand. “It’s only your age, calm down. Besides, Harry wouldn’t think of you like that. Now take that pitcher and fill it up with water, please.”

Louis rolled his eyes and walked over to the sink. “Do you think Harry would change his mind? If he does, I am taking a personal trip to London.”

“No, stop whining.”

“He said it, to my face. How dare he.”

“Quiet, please.”

The boy only continued. “If he was not a King, I would have hit him. No actually, if Harry was not there, I would have hit him.”

Niall let out a frustrated sigh. “If you do not shut up about that man, then I will tell Harry that you are being stubborn brat and have him raise more eyebrows about you. Silence, please for the love of God.”

Louis rolled his eyes and turned on the sink. Harry would have listened to him complain. In fact, he listens to him everyday about how his day has been and how some things annoy him. Unlike Niall, he doesn’t hush him. Louis didn’t like how royalty changed Harry, this morning proved just that. He always was so considerate to his feelings and showed his empathy. 

The boy let out a groan and secretly wished for this night to be over so that Harry turn back into himself.


	9. Chapter 9

After the ball, Louis had ended up falling asleep in the ballroom and Liam had to practically drag the boy to his room. He hadn't seen Harry the past following few days; instead he was either taking a trip to London, working in town, or just far too busy with calculations with the town growth. So far, at least twenty families have contacted the castle by letter, desiring to move in. Most of them being farmers, blacksmiths, or tailors wanting to expand their companies. 

Of course, Harry immediately responded, agreeing to their ideas. Then quickly going out into town to pick out houses for them. There had been some people without any company work that had wanted to work with the castle. Harry was hesitant at first, but realized that he couldn't have Niall, Liam, and Zayn stress themselves out to do all the housework. Though Louis hadn't been able to ask for details due to Harry running around. 

Louis was currently walking the halls, slightly flapping his sweater's sleeves. It was definitely Harry's due to the size difference, but he wasn't complaining as it was comfortable. No one had been watching him this entire day. This morning, Niall agreed to watch over him, but somewhere he had ended up ditching the boy and leaving him to wander around. 

Harry was busy in his room doing God knows what. He didn't even stay for breakfast, only taking his plate and telling someone to look after Louis while he was preoccupied. It was boring when he was busy, the boy thought. Louis didn't understand why he couldn't just stick around with the man, it wasn't like he was going to bother him. 

Well, only a little. 

The younger sighed and stopped walking once he was facing Harry's large door. He was tempted to burst in, but he had learned his last time to not irritate the man while he was busy. Louis chewed on his lip as he contemplated to knock or to just walk away. However, the boy had no one to watch over him and it was starting to become lonely. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his closed fist and tapped it against the dark oak wood door. Nervously, he brought his hand down and began to crumble the sleeve into his fist. 

Seconds seemed like minutes and it made it seem like Harry wasn't going to answer. Louis was about to leave when the door swung open, revealing a very irritated Harry. The boy's heart began to beat quickly and heavily; he didn't know what to say. His mouth was agape but his throat was dry and wouldn't produce sound. A small sigh came from the man and his shoulders dropped. 

"What is it, Louis?" He asked, his hard gaze setting on Louis'.

"I, um, I have nothing to do." Louis managed to say. 

"And? Go find Niall, I can't have you around."

"That's the problem," The boy shyly stepped back and looked down. "Niall had something important to do and neither Liam or Zayn is here."

He didn't understand why he was acting so bashful around the man. Louis has known him for months, but all the sudden, he is self-conscious as to what Harry would think. It was strange and he didn't like it, but the younger couldn't stop it. He remembered when he despised royalty, how he hated every single aspect of it, and now here was, secretly wanting the King to tell him that he's pretty. 

It was disgusting almost. 

"Are you serious?" Harry groaned, and brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He then motioned for Louis to come in and stepped back. "I give them one job, just one, and they go off, doing the complete opposite. Liam could have taken you to the city, but he decided he wanted to be with his boyfriend and completely ignore the fact that I needed someone to make sure you're safe while I'm busy."

Louis bit down on his lip and walked through the door and went directly to the bed, sitting his arse down the soft material. Harry then shut his door and went to go sit down at his desk. The boy watched as he sat down on the chair and picked up the ink pen, beginning to write on a piece of paper. This is what he was doing all day? 

"What are you writing down?" The younger asked, feeling intrigued. 

"Information for the housing. Going to send them to London when I'm done." He spoke slowly. 

Louis nodded, even though Harry wouldn't be able to see him. "Is that what you've been doing all day?" 

"Ah no," Harry put his pen down and then placed an arm around his mouth and began to cough. Louis watched as his eyes crinkled in pain and his skin turn a shade lighter. He wanted to stand up and go rub the King's back, and tell him it's okay. Before Louis could stand up, Harry stopped and placed his arm back down. "I was doing receipts to the families planning to move down here. That, and I was thinking of going to Doncaster or Manchester to speak with their Kings and Queens."

Louis' ears perked up at the sound of his old town. He swallowed dryly and began to tap his fingers on his knee. "Doncaster?" He weakly asked. 

It took Harry a minute to process what Louis had said. The boy was squirming in his seat in discomfort. His heart was pounding in his chest and his head was swimming. He didn't want to think of home anymore, it was the past, he lived in the present. 

"Yes, Doncaster. I'm sorry, Louis." Harry quietly said. 

Louis took in a breath and started fiddling with his fingers. He wanted to go back nonetheless, but he knew it wouldn't be possible. The younger wondered what it would be like to go to his family, showing that he was still alive and telling them a final goodbye without pressure of leaving. 

"Can I go? I won't... I won't try to leave, I just want to look at what's changed. Please Harry?"

The room went silent, the only sound being the pen being set down. Louis fumbled with his fingers and bit down on his lip. He had never asked Harry for anything, it was the first time. It made Louis feel like a little child asking their mother for something at the market, except Louis was asking for much more. 

"Louis-"

The boy stood up quickly as Harry began to talk. "Harry, please. I've forgotten what it looks like. Ever since I've got here, I've only seen this castle. It makes me feel so sheltered. I forgot what a market even looks like for Christ's Sake!"

A sigh filled the silence between them. Louis sat back down and began to fumble with his fingers again. Tears were pricking his eyes; he hadn't realized how sick he was of this castle until leaving was brought up. He wanted to leave, at least somewhere except the castle. Even into the city, anything to get away. 

"You'll get sick. It's very cold outside, and the trip there takes almost three hours and I'd rather not have you dying from pneumonia." Harry spoke. His words were soft and spoken slow, as if he actually cared for his well being. Though Louis was growing anger. 

"I don't care!" The boy shouted. "I just want to see my hometown before I end up killing myself!"

The words left his mouth before he could process it. A hand placed itself over his mouth and the tears welling in his eyes dripped down his cheeks. Harry didn't say anything; instead, he sat in the same position as before. Another sigh left his mouth and he pressed his hand against his forehead, fingers threading through his thick curls. 

"I shouldn't have said anything." He muttered. 

Louis only stood there, tears snaking his cheeks. He couldn't help the tiny sounds coming from his throat, making him feel so little. This castle was causing him to become so emotional, and it didn't make him look attractive at all. It made him moody and easy to cry. He's cried twice this entire week, over the silliest of things at that. Louis was just so tired, so exhausted from being stuck in a castle all day with nothing to do. It was torture almost. 

"I'll think about it, alright?" The man said. "No promises."

Louis' shoulders dropped and he sat back down on the bed. He felt guilty now - for wanting something that he knew was almost impossible to give. The younger sighed and laid his back down onto the mattress, wiping the tears that were running down his face off. His whimpering then came to a stop as he began to breathe. Now he was seeing why Harry didn't want him around while he was working. Louis was whiny, needy, and wanted attention all too much. Every time he was with Harry, he'd always become angry because he wasn't getting enough. It was such an ugly trait on Louis, he thought. 

The King didn't say anything else, and Louis took it as he was tired speaking to the boy. He sat up from his spot and stood to his feet. Harry paid no attention to him as he padded his small feet towards the door. When he opened the door, Harry's eyes snapped towards him. 

"What are you doing? Come back over here." 

Louis froze and stared back at Harry. His eyes and cheeks were probably raw from the small cry session he had minutes ago. "I was going to leave you alone to work, like you intended. I'll be okay, I won't go anywhere. Was thinking about reading in the library."

Harry then shook his head. "No, stay in here. I don't want you alone."

"You don't have to worry, I'm only keeping you from your work. Plus, I like reading - a lot actually." The boy spoke softly. 

"I needed a break to talk to someone anyways." Harry smiled and turned his chair to face the younger. "I'm going to end up working myself to death one day."

Louis smiled and walked over to where Harry was and leaned on the chair. He was looking down at the writing on the papers. It was describing the houses in depth, inside and out. Harry had even made little sketches of them on the sides of the papers. They were nice, to the looks of it - even if they hadn't been touched for five years, they were very nice and preserved. 

"What about the dust inside them?" Louis asked. "There has to be a lot of buildup after all these years."

"I talked to the King of London about it at the ball. After I send the these to him, he's going to send people to come over and clean the inside next week."

The younger nodded and began to flip through the papers. The side of his face burned from Harry's eyes taking in his detail. Louis wanted to blush, but he didn't want the man to know he was making such an impact on him. "What if you put up a large gate around Holmes Chapel? That way, you'll be able to have Zayn and Liam at the castle more often."

"Problem with that is I'd have to have someone guard the openings and from people coming over from the top." Harry chuckled. "It's fine, once people start moving in, there will be more work around, so that Liam and Zayn will be able to relax more often."

"Will there be more people around the castle?" 

"Yeah, course. Can't leave Niall to do all the work. And personally, I'm tired of doing all the cooking. It'd be nice to have someone do the cooking for once." Harry told him, eyes not moving his cheeks. 

Louis turned to look at him, a frown setting on his lips. "I don't like the idea of having other people around."

Harry frowned as well. "We can't continue to have the castle run by one person. I'm sorry, Louis."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, I just don't like meeting new people." 

Reassuringly, Harry placed a hand on the boy's lower back and watched him skim through the papers. Desperately how he wished to just pull the younger into his lap and hold him - to rid his stress away. Louis always had that effect on him, always making him feel more comfortable with his situation. 

Alas, Louis wasn't gay, or so Harry thought anyways. If Harry would have grabbed him and held him, Louis would be uncomfortable with the situation and completely disgusted from the man. Harry wasn't going to lie, Louis was his exact type; he wanted someone that was so tiny, but could act big. Even though he was stubborn and a mess, the King couldn't help but to want him. Instead, he kept his hand at the small of his back, barely inching forward to the boy's arse.

And Harry wished Louis could be his, to stop the pain and be forever his. 

-

After dinner, Harry sat in the library with Louis. He was just finishing the papers while the younger was reading one of his books. His eyelashes barely covered his view and his lips slightly pouted out. Harry resisted the urge to walk over there and yank the book out of his small hands, then kissing him hard. 

Harry let out a breath and shook his head. He continued to write down the useless information of the houses and tapped his foot to make his mind drift from the thought. Thinking the way he was would not make the thoughts stop; instead, he was only causing them to intensify. Louis, of course, was completely oblivious to the fact the King was lusting over him - and that was how it was going to stay. It would be embarrassing if anyone found out that the King desperately wanted someone that showed no interest. Harry's life was absolutely embarrassing. 

"You're going to think yourself to death." Louis spoke, flipping the page of his book. "What did you tell me one time? Thinking is a dangerous pastime?"

Harry smiled and placed the papers down. "Yes, it is a dangerous pastime, but unfortunately, it is impossible to stop. Always we are thinking, even if you don't realize it. Even when you speak, the words you say go through your mind faster than you speak it."

"Thinking causes you to lose your sanity."

"Thinking is insanity." The man laughed silently and picked his papers back up, continuing to write down the last of the information. 

Louis sighed and closed the book he was reading. He placed it down on the table next to the sofa and laid his back down on the cushion beside Harry. The boy stared up at Harry, his eyes burning every part of his skin. Harry's insides were turning and twisting, but he didn't allow himself to show his reaction. He had to fight off the lightheadedness he felt in his stomach every time Louis looked at him, he had to fight off the way his lips tingled in anticipation every time he looked at the younger's lips. Harry wasn't going to submit himself to such a torture. 

"Are you almost done? It's not very exciting when you're busy." Louis whined. "Not only that, but everyone seems to be busy as well."

"Almost, almost. I'm on the last paper." Harry sighed. 

"What are you writing down?" He asked, bringing his hands up to play with the curls hanging down. Harry swallowed back the lump in his throat and tried to ignore the way Louis' small hands were brushing past his face. He mentally swatted himself when his mind wondered off to imagining Louis' fingers wrapped around the girth of his cock. 

"Er - basic detail, one more sentence."

The younger let out a yawn and dropped his arms to his own chest. He intertwined his fingers and closed his eyes. "I'm getting a bit tired."

Harry smiled at him and wrote down what the features were in the home. Once he was done, he let out a deep sigh and put the papers away. His cramping hands laid themselves onto his thigh and his head dropped back. Louis must have noticed, because a prodding finger found its way to the man's cheek. His lips curved upwards and he leaned into the touch unintentionally. 

"You're tired," Louis stated. 

"How did you guess?" Harry chuckled. 

"Lucky guess, I suppose."

The man hummed and let out a yawn. It was nearing midnight by now and he had been working on housing for over twelve hours. He spent the entire time working on receipts for at least three hours, then he had to obtain the information of all the housing. It would have taken him a shorter amount of time, but he had to make breakfast, give Louis something to eat around lunch and then make dinner. All that and Louis was making conversation the whole time. 

"Have you thought about it?" Louis then asked. Harry opened his eyes and looked down to stare at the younger's blue ones. 

"Thought about what?"

Louis bit his lip before speaking. "Doncaster,"

Harry frowned. "I haven't," The younger closed his eyes and let out a breath. Harry wanted to reach out and rub circles into the smaller's cheek. "Ask me next week. Preferably sometime after breakfast."

"Promise me you'll have an answer."

"I promise," The King smiled. 

Harry then wished he could lean down and kiss those pretty pink lips.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i abandoned this for a little bit. this is my favorite chapter.

"I just got the mail from Liam and Zayn." Niall says as he walks into the dining room, flipping through the envelopes. Harry and Louis, who had been sitting next to each other with their bowls of oatmeal in front of them. The younger didn't pay attention as he went for another bite. Harry, on the other hand, was interested - probably because of the whole ordeal with the kingdom. It had been almost a week after he sent out the housing details, so there was most likely information of that. 

"Louis, you've got mail?" Niall asks, confusion in his tone of voice. Louis nearly spits out his oatmeal when Niall throws the envelope beside Louis and sets the other letters in front of Harry. 

Hurriedly, he grabs at it and begins to read it. He feels Harry look over his shoulder and his breath fan against his ear. Though Louis couldn't be bothered at the moment. His name was written in a nice font in the middle of the envelope. In the far left corner, Lottie's name was written. Along with it, was the kingdom.

Paris. 

Louis' heart dropped and his face began to pale. His hands were now trembling; they actually had used the money to go to Paris. They actually went to Paris - wasting the money and not considering Louis. Shaking his head, he began to open it quickly. Of course his mother wouldn't be the one to send a letter. No, she was obviously better than that or just simply scared. Louis bit down on his cheek, to stop the anger from growing. He took out the folded up letter inside and began to smooth out all the creases. 

Louis,

Happy late birthday, big brother. I'm writing this letter on Christmas as the little ones are playing with their new things. Mum told us what happened and how when we were on the way to Paris. Yes - we still moved to Paris. I still can't believe she didn't do anything about it - she still isn't. Unbelievable. I don't even know if you're alive - I hope you're alive - I could be writing to no one. I love you, Louis and I really miss you. 

Everyone is still a little shaken up, life isn't the same without your loud mouth around. Fizzy has even been waking up crying from nightmares. It takes almost an hour to calm her down. Absolutely awful. Though it has calmed down a little, but it's frightening when she starts screaming out your name in the middle of the night. The first time she did it, we were terrified. Mum even started crying and tried to calm her down. When Fizzy had woke up, she was crying for you. We all began to cry after that. 

Mum quit her job doing the tarot cards. She's now working along with a man who sells weapons. If you ask me, they're getting too comfortable with each other. Mum hasn't talked about you to anyone, even when we bring you up, she ignores the conversation. She hasn't talked about you since we got here. It's like you never lived with us. Even if she pretends she doesn't know you, I'll never forget.

I hope you're okay. I miss you so much, so so much. And we'll see each other again, yeah? Promise. There's a necklace in the envelope, it's a birthday and Christmas present. Write back, okay?

Love you. 

-Lottie

By the time Louis got done reading, a tear slipped from his eye and he let out a shaky breath. He reached his arm up and wiped his face. A smile played along his lips as he laid down the letter beside his bowl. Louis reached over to the envelope and pulled out the said necklace. It was a purple stone with thread wrapped around it to make it stay. The necklace was a bit like a woman's, but Louis put it around his neck nonetheless. 

"Your sister?" Harry asked as he reached over to pick up the necklace that laid against his upper chest. 

Louis nodded and smiled bigger. Tears were still welding in his eyes. "Yeah," he sniffed and wiped his eyes. "I miss her. I miss all of my siblings."

"Your necklace is nice. Looks homemade." 

"It is," Louis told him. "Lottie always made jewelry; bracelets, necklaces, anklets, she even made my ring." 

He reached his hand up to show Harry the ring. The man took ahold of his finger and inspected it. His fingertips carefully brushed against his skin as if he were afraid of hurting the boy. Louis' heart was thumping in his chest; the gentle touch had caused butterflies to form in his stomach and his heartbeat to race. He swallowed back the growing lump in his throat and began to speak. 

"She didn't weld the ring, of course. Lottie had this friend who's dad was a blacksmith and he had welded it for her. She would take my size and tell her friend; after that, she would design it all nice. It's nice, isn't it?"

Harry nodded and gently placed Louis's hand on the table. "Very impressive. How old is she?"

"She's fifteen, I believe." Louis then frowned. "I almost forgot how old my own family was. I've been here too long."

"I guess you'll have to write her back and ask how old everyone is." Harry told him and grinned. 

Louis then smiled wide and began to feel his cheeks heat up. "I guess you're right."

The two were now smiling as they began to eat again. Niall had raised an eyebrow at the two - then plopping down on a chair in front of them. He reached over and took the untouched mail and began to open them. 

"This one is from one of the families." He told Harry and took out the paper, beginning to read it. "Blah blah, excited to live here. Getting ready to move in, or something. Oh, they want you to approve of a church?"

Harry's smile fell and he let out a sigh. "I don't know about that. They're going to go too far. Liam, Zayn-"

"Harry, you're the king." Louis told him, placing a hand on his forearm. "If they go too far, you can take control."

"You don't understand, Louis. What if... What if one day, I'm gone and no one’s there to stop them?"

The younger frowned. "What do you mean 'you'll be gone?' That's a long time from now."

"How do you know that, Louis? Are you going to magically keep me from dying? Unlikely." Harry sighed. 

"I can't do it magically, but I can try to do it the best I can." Louis told him. "Stop acting like you're going to die soon."

The king stood up from the table and shook his head. He took the letters from Niall's hands and turned to him. "Niall, I'm going to my room and writing back to these people. Watch him, please."

"I'm not a dog, Harry. You don't have to treat me like one." Harry ignored him and continued to walk out the door. 

Louis crossed his arms together and let out a frustrated sigh. He pushed his bowl of oatmeal away from him and look outside. 

"Hey," Niall said softly. "He didn't mean it like that. There's just some things going on and it's really stressing him out. I'd tell you, but it's none of my business."

The younger only let out a puff of air and pouted. "I don't see why he won't tell me himself. I could help him however I could."

Niall averted his eyes from Louis and gulped. "It - it doesn't work like that. The situation is different - you wouldn't be able to help. If someone else like Harry came along-"

"Why can't I help him? What's wrong with me? I don't see what's wrong with me trying to help. If he would explain, I'd do anything to help." Louis ranted. 

"Louis, it's not really you, it's more of a preference rather than yourself."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Niall shook his head and stood up from the table. He kept eye contact to a minimum and nervously bit on his lip before speaking. "I really can't say anymore. Ask Harry, yeah? I'm sure he'd tell you - if he's in a good mood, that is. I'm going to do laundry, keep yourself busy please."

With that, Niall walked out of the dining room, leaving Louis with his mouth agape. The feather-haired boy crossed his arms and pouted. He was confused and felt completely helpless. Yet he was completely determined to find out. 

\- 

Louis sat on the bridge outside of the castle. His feet dangled above the frozen pond, making him feel short and tiny. To his right, was Harry. He was writing in his notepad, spurts of coughs spilling from his lips every now and then. It had been a few hours since the incident earlier this morning. Harry hadn't spoken to him about it, and Louis didn't think he would either. 

The chilly wind blew against Louis' neck, causing him to curl up more into his - or should he say Harry's - sweater. He wanted to lean up into Harry and take in all his warmth; he didn't want to get intimate with the king, Louis had dignity. Yet on days like this, the smaller felt the need to be held and to be told he's beautiful. Though he knew that day would never come, it was just his luck. Louis reached his hand up and grabbed his necklace, taking it off. His fingers grazed against the smooth stone. Lottie was the only one to know of his sexuality and she would tease him constantly about it. He really missed her. 

Louis looked over at Harry, who had his eyebrows knitted together and his eyes concentrated on his notepad. The same one that Louis had snooped into and was very displeased to find simple receipts. Harry was boring and what he found fun, was absolute rubbish. Louis remembered when he was told about Harry and his sister, how they were jokesters. He wondered if they still talked. 

"Harry?"

The man hummed, eyes not budging from the paper. His lip was tucked in between his teeth and his eyes followed his hand movements. Louis gulped and leaned his body against Harry. 

"What are you writing down?"

"Some things I bought from London. Have to keep up with everything I do." Harry told him. 

Louis nodded and leaned back to his original position he was in. His eyes focused on the stone and his fingers gripped on to it until the tips turned white. He sighed and loosened his grip. 

"Are you still angry with me?"

The man sighed and put down his notepad. "No, I can't be mad at you for not understanding. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I ranted a little with Niall - before he left me. "

Harry let out a chuckle and began to pop his knuckles. "Pretty outside, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Although, the wind is going to give me frostbite if I stay out too long." Louis told him. 

"I suppose that is a problem. I'm almost finished; once I get done, I'll make hot cocoa. Sound good?"

The younger could feel his face light up at the sound of hot cocoa. He hasn't had it since last winter when his mother would make it for the entire family and cold winter days. A smile began to form on his thin lips. He remembered how his sisters would sit in the den as his mother would go out to the pubs for tarot reading. His sisters would all relax around him and he would read his books to them until it was time to go to bed. Louis would always have to carry the twins to bed, they fell asleep during his reading. He always blamed the hot cocoa. 

"Yes, that sounds amazing. Haven't had cocoa since last year." Louis grinned. 

"That needs to change then."

 

Louis smiled and leaned his body towards his knees. He laid his arms into his thighs, the stone necklace sitting loosely in his hands. His fingers began to twirl around it. The younger yawned and began to stretch his shoulders out. In the process, the stone necklace flew out of his hands and landed in the middle of the pond. He cursed to himself and stretched his body upwards and plopped his small body on the ice beneath him. He let out a huff once his feet began to slip from underneath him. 

"Louis? What are you doing?" Harry asked as he set down his notepad. 

The younger waved him off and caught his balance on the ice. He began to walk towards his necklace. "Just getting my necklace, don't worry."

"No Louis, you need to be careful-"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." He replied and got closer to his necklace. Once he reached it, Louis bent down and picked up the purple stone and stood back up to look at Harry. He grinned and held up the necklace. "See? All good." 

Harry bit down on his lip and let out a breath. "Just... safely walk back, yeah?"

Louis nodded and began to walk back to the bridge. He didn't know what was happening until it did. The smaller tripped over his feet, causing the stone necklace to fly out of his hands once again. As he was about to catch himself on the ice, the ice had broken through and Louis went straight into the freezing water. He gasped for air, but was greeted with water filling his lungs. His skin began to chill up and become numb. Louis vigorously tried to swim up, but his attempts were ruthless. 

The last thing he remembered before his eyes went black was a tugging on his sweater.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for cliffhanger tho lol

When Louis' eyes finally got the strength to open, the sunlight coming through the window burnt. He reached his arms up to rub his eyes and felt his weight on his muscles. Louis felt so weak. He turned his head over to the window blinked a few times. It was his room and no one else was around - it was absolutely silent. His head hurt and his nasal passage was throbbing. Louis didn't want to move in fear of feeling heavyweight. He felt sick. 

Louis was confused and it hurt to think back. He only remembered sitting on the bridge with Harry and that it was starting to get late. Now it was about midday and Louis was in bed with the blankets up to his collarbone. He felt a chill run through his body, causing him to curl more into the blanket. Louis wanted Harry and now. 

He opened his mouth, feeling his dry throat open. As he began to speak, it came harder to get the words out, leaving him in a small whisper calling for Harry. Louis frowned and felt his chest sinking in. He couldn't even call for someone. Louis let out a small whimper closed his eyes and pulled the blankets to his ears. His body was cold and sore; by now his whole head was throbbing. 

Louis desperately called for someone to come in his room in his head. It was helpless, but he was unable to speak. His body felt like someone was holding him down and that someone was blowing cold air on him. Louis felt awful. 

He began to think back and his mind instantly went to the necklace. His eyes snapped open and he quickly brought a hand to clutch at his neck for the stone. When he felt his bare skin, his eyes searched the entire room for the object. He barely had got it and he's already lost it. Louis swallowed dry and let out a sigh of desperation. His mind went back to when the necklace had slipped out of his hands and he went to retrieve it. Harry had warned him about the ice and - oh. 

Louis fell through. 

Even though the older had warned him, Louis didn't listen. He insisted he'd be fine and absolutely nothing would go wrong. The smaller bit down on his lip and looked out the window. Though he somehow had gotten back to his bed into warm material. Louis could have died in that water, Harry could have left him there to die. Somehow he was still here, he didn't even serve a purpose at this castle. Louis knew that he wouldn't be getting back to sleep now - not with his state of mind. 

As if his desperate soundless calls were met, the door opened. Louis strained his neck to see who it was, feeling sick to even move his head, and found Niall bringing in clothes. The blonde boy didn't pay any attention to the one in bed as he turned around to the wardrobe and began to put up his clothes. Louis was going to have to talk. A little part of him died when he realized what he had to do and he closed his eyes in desperation. He opened his mouth and pushed on his vocal cords to speak. It hurt him to try but he had to get his attention. 

"...Niall." His voice cracked. 

The blonde one spun around and snapped his wide eyes on Louis. "You're awake, thank god. Do you need water? Something warm? More blankets? I - I'm going to get Harry, okay? He's been worried that it's gotten him sick. I'll be right back, don't go anywhere."

Louis didn't have time to nod even before Niall was running out the door, leaving his clothes in the basket. The clothes he was wearing when he fell in were in the basket. He wondered how long he had been unconscious; it was definitely not midday when he was outside and it had to be enough time for his clothes to be washed. Louis didn't want to think anymore, it only caused his brain to hurt even more than it did. 

He let out a sigh and pushed the blankets off of his chest. Louis wanted to sit up, but he knew once he did, he'd be sick. He felt hopeless, completely utterly useless. Not only that, but his boy felt gross, he needed to shower soon and deep clean his hair. 

Though someone would have to help him. How uncomfortable, he thought. 

"Louis?" The younger snapped his eyes to the door to see Harry hurriedly walking through the door. His eyes were set on Louis' and he quickly made it to his side. "Can you hear me?" 

Louis furrowed his eyebrows and nodded. Of course he could hear is what he wanted to say. 

Harry nodded and began to speak again. "Can you talk?"

The younger pointed to his throat and mouthed "hurts". Harry nodded again and sat down beside Louis's body. His eyes strained on his face with sad eyes. Harry let out a sigh and dropped his shoulders. 

"I was so scared. You were under that water for too long. I had to reach my entire upper body in there to get you. And it was so cold. I thought you were gone." Louis frowned and put his hand on Harry’s arm reassuringly. He wasn't going to die anytime soon, he was here to stay. Harry looked down at his hand and let out a breath. He stood up, letting Louis's hand drop. "I'm just so glad you're awake. I thought you'd never would have woken up. I'm going to make you something warm for your throat. Maybe that hot cocoa I promised you."

-

After several cup of hot cocoa, Louis was able to regain most of his voice. It was still scratchy and hurt a bit to talk, but didn't mind. Harry had stayed in his room the entire time and made sure to keep him busy. Louis didn't mind much anyways, he'd rather have someone there to accompany him. Harry was talking to him as he was drinking the warm liquid, talking about his plans and what London has done for Holmes Chapel. When Louis had finally spoke, the older was grinning from cheek to cheek. 

"Liam's in a bit of a quarrel with Zayn." Harry told him. "Something about wanting to visit family as a couple and him rejecting the idea."

Louis rolled his eyes. "That's a terrible idea."

"I know, I tried to tell him. He just wouldn't listen." Harry laughed. "I'm sure they'll get over it."

The younger nodded and reached over to grab the cup of hot cocoa on the bedside table. Harry made amazing hot cocoa, it was rich in flavor and irresistible. Once he took a drink, Harry took the cup away. 

"You've had too much. What is this? Your sixth cup?" Louis frowned and reached to grab at it again. Harry shook his head and laughed. "I don't want you to throw up, you've had too much. Certainly you're not thirsty anymore."

"Harry," Louis whined. 

Harry hummed and set the cup on the table. "No more for now."

The younger let out a huff and crossed his arms. Harry chuckled and shuffled the boy's hair. It was almost time for dinner now and Louis didn't know what to do due to his condition and not being able to sit up from bed. 

"Harry, what about-" Louis cleared his throat. "Dinner?"

"What about it?"

Louis's throat was beginning to hurt again. He swallowed back to ease back the pain. "Me." The older furrowed his eyebrows. Louis let out a sigh, knowing he wouldn't understand. "I can't get out of bed."

Harry raised his eyebrows and made an 'o' shape with his mouth. He then nodded at Louis. "No worries, I'll bring you some soup."

"Cocoa?"

"I'll think about it." The man smiled. 

Louis then thought back to his necklace. He still didn't know where it was. The younger bit on his tongue and looked at Harry's neck. He wasn't wearing Louis's necklace, but a cross that hung down his diaphragm. 

"Harry," When the man nodded, Louis spoke again. "My necklace."

"Your necklace? Oh, right." Harry walked over to the bedside table and opened the drawer, pulling out the stone. "Found it underneath the bridge. Thought it you'd might want it considering your sister sent it to you."

Louis nodded and reached over and grabbed the stone from his hands. "I miss her."

"Write back, then."

"I will, just enable."

"Ah, hang on." Harry dug into the drawer again and pulled out pieces of paper and an ink pen. Louis smiled and took the papers from his hands. "There, that better?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Your throat starting to hurt again? You're beginning to speak short." Louis nodded and Harry sighed. "I'm going to go then and cook dinner. I'll let you rest your throat. Do you want me to bring Niall in here in case you need anything?" 

Louis shook his head and the man nodded. He reached over to shuffle Louis' hair and then walked out of the room. The younger then propped up his knees - which took too much energy than it should have - and began to write back. 

Lottie,

I love and miss you along with the other girls dearly! It is different without you guys around. Too different. Thank you for the necklace and the belated birthday wish. I wish you and the girls a Happy Christmas as well. 

I am alive, no worries I do not plan to die any time soon. So far, the castle life has treated me fairly strangely enough. Yesterday, I had fallen into some ice (ignorant idea, don't ask) and now I've caught a cold of some sort, but I'll be fine I'm sure. 

When I got here, I was so scared. The King was angry that I had showed up instead of Mum, and sent me to a spare room. Surprisingly, it was such a beautiful room and a very nice bed. The castle also includes a library packed with books - almost heaven it is. It also has a very homey kitchen and dining room along with beautiful decorations everywhere. The best thing about it, I'm not slaved around, I basically live here along the side of the King.

As for the King, his name is Harry and he's very kind when he's not angry (I'm not telling you how many times I've made him angry). For my birthday, he cooked me a nice dinner and had made sure I was happy. He's also very handsome. 

Speaking of which, there three men that live here with Harry: Niall, Liam, and Zayn. Here's the best thing about it, Zayn and Liam are in a relationship - an open relationship. They're gay and Harry allows it. Another very interesting thing: Harry is gay too, not very open with it though. He's trying to get more people to live in the kingdom and it's working, he just can't tell anyone he's gay. I'm not sure if I should say anything quite yet about myself. 

Anyways, I wanted to write back to you. I love you so much! Let the others know I'm alive and love them as well. I'll be sure to meet you guys sometime in the future. I hope Paris is treating you well and leave those Paris boys alone!

Your big brother, Louis

The boy sighed and put down the piece of paper beside him. It took him a good fifteen minutes to write the letter, partly because he was trying to find the right words to say. He was now alone with absolutely nothing to do. Him being sick was completely awful; what was he supposed to do now, count the number of cracks on the ceiling? Louis mentally groaned and tried to find something to do. 

He could try to stand up and walk around, to try to get his strength again. Yeah, that would help, he thought. Louis kicked his legs to the edge of the bed to where they were hanging off, and he began to lift his upper body with his wobbling arms. Once he was in a sitting position, he looked down at the clothing he was wearing: A large black long sleeved shirt with grey pyjama pants. Harry must have dressed him.

Louis closed his eyes and swallowed dry. His head was throbbing and spinning around. He couldn't even think due to the pressure in his head; Louis wanted to vomit. Though the boy didn't hesitate to scoot his body over until his feet were holding his weight. His knees were trembling and the pounding in his head didn't help either. He felt like falling down and laying in a fetal position. However, a little part of Louis was still determined to walk a little. 

He took one step and had almost lost the little strength he had. Louis licked his lips and took another step. His fingers were holding onto the post with a death grip as he made himself to the bottom of the bed. His legs were now shaking more than before and the throbbing in his head was beginning to get worse. He continued nonetheless, his goal was to make it to the other side of the bed. 

As he was about to reach the other side without holding on to anything, the door swung open to reveal an angry Liam. Louis fell to his knees with a squeak releasing from his lips. He looked over at the man and glared. 

"Louis - why are you not in bed?" He spoke and began to walk over to the younger. Liam held out a hand, to which Louis gradually agreed. 

Louis was brought back to his feet and was sat on the bed. He let out a huff and scooted his body until he was in the middle of the bed. "What?" He asked Liam, who was grinning at him. Louis was sure Liam was bipolar.

"Harry never has a dull moment with you. Also, your voice sounds awful." Liam told him and sat down. 

Louis rolled his eyes. "Is awful."

"Look at you, speaking in key terms like a little baby, so cute." The man cooed and reached over to pinch his cheeks. "Anyways, Harry said you were having a hard time speaking, so I took the opportunity to come in here and complain about my problems - without your sassy input."

Louis made a gun with his hands and pointed it at himself. Liam only laughed and laid down on the bed beside him. 

"Zayn is ignoring me. He's locked himself in my room and won't let me in." Liam whined. "I even apologized to him and he still won't let me in! I'm so irritated."

Louis was cursing the gods above for putting him in this situation. What did he do to deserve this?

"Just because I want to introduce him to my family. What he doesn't understand is that my family would never have us killed, they're not like that, never would they amount to that." 

"Space." Louis told him. 

"Huh?"

The younger let out a sigh. "Give Zayn space."

Liam scoffed and sighed. "He doesn't need space, he needs to talk to me. Nothing will be resolved if he doesn't talk it through with me. We've known each other since we were little kids, he's known my mother as well. He's being a royal pain in the arse."

"Don't care."

"Too bad. I wish I had a relationship like yours and Harry's - you know but being gay and all." Liam sighed again. "If you were, Harry would be so happy, you know? It's what he really needs; someone to hold him down and calm him down when he needs it. And you already have been doing that, just needs more of a boost."

Louis furrowed his eyebrows and looked away from the man. He was gay, and he really hadn't noticed how his relationship with Harry was. They were a bit close, he knew that, but he never realized how much time they actually spent together. Then again, they were together all day everyday and has been for a few months now. They spent so much time mindlessly talking nonsense and bickering at each other. 

"But I wish I had what you and Harry had, but in a romantic way with Zayn and I. Instead, Zayn wants to be a bipolar dick and ignore me. It's exhausting."

In a romantic way; Louis swallowed dry and looked up at the ceiling. That would be nice, a romantic relationship. Louis began to imagine himself leaning into Harry while he did his work. Every now and then, he would reach up and leave a tender kiss to Harry's smooth neck. His finger would graze against his back and his chin would rest on his lean shoulder. 

Louis tuned out Liam - who was still ranting about his relationship problems - and imagined himself with Harry together romantically. A little part of his heart throbbed at the thought. He wouldn't mind. 

He wouldn't mind at all.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :))))

The morning sun peaked through the windows as Louis removed his shirt. Goosebumps found themselves laying against his skin, leaving a chill running through his spine. He stood up and weakly walked towards his wardrobe and grabbed a random sweatshirt, slipping it on his small body. Slowly, he walked out the room and began to head downstairs.

Surprisingly, the castle was a bit too quiet to Louis’ liking. Liam and Zayn must have been out doing their duties. It was almost scary this quiet. Usually, Louis would be kicking a ball around in the hallways while Harry scolded him. The couple, Liam and Zayn, would be arguing about something irrelevant and shoving their tongues down each other’s throats at the same time. 

It has been two days since Louis woke up from his unconsciousness; during that time, Harry has been careful with him and making sure he was bathing, eating, and drinking enough. The smaller was surprised he wasn’t smothered yet. It was more than his mother did for him while he was younger. 

When Louis came downstairs, he went directly to the kitchen. Harry had to be in there, because it was a bit too early to be breakfast time and he hadn’t been woken up this morning. His body was weak but he could at least function today. Yesterday, he had been able to walk down to dinner, but Harry had to practically carry him back to bed.

The door opened to the kitchen and the first thing Louis saw was Harry hunched over the sink with both of his arms supporting himself. The boy furrowed his eyebrows and walked slowly over to the King.

“Harry? What’s wrong?”

The man’s head jerked up and he turned around to face Louis. His skin color was a shade lighter than it usually was and dark circles highlighted his eyes. He gave a small smile to Louis as the smaller started to walk towards the King.

“You’re up early,” Harry’s voice cracked. “Are you hungry? I was just about to start breakfast.”

Louis frowned. “You look sick. Did I get you sick?”

“No, you’re fine. I’m just feeling a bit under the weather today. Must be the cold air getting to me. Anyways, did you want egg on toast or something else?”

“Egg on toast is fine. Harry, I think you should go back to bed after you make breakfast. You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep working while you’re sick.” Louis says as he walks closer to Harry’s face, inspecting every detail. “Yeah, you definitely need to go back to bed, you look awful Harry.”

The man closes his eyes and shakes his head. “I have too much work to do. Besides, you’re the one who needs to go back to bed. I’m not quite convinced that you’ve got all your strength back yet.”

What Louis wanted to say was, ‘Why don’t we go back to bed together?’, instead he said: “You worry too much.”

With a sigh, Louis plopped into a chair in the kitchen and watched as the man began to make breakfast. He was exhausted; he hadn’t really got much sleep in the past three days. The feather-haired boy had been thinking about his home life too much. He wanted to know why his mother didn’t act like he never existed; actually, he wanted to know why she went to Paris even though she had no point anymore.

“Thinking is a-”

“Dangerous pastime, I know.” Louis finished Harry’s sentence. The taller turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. “I just… I just want to know why my mother doesn’t care much for me anymore. Lottie said she won’t even mention my name.”

Harry frowned. “I’m sure she has her reasons. Besides, you don’t live with her anymore. You live with me. I could treat you better than she could.” 

Louis was the one to raise his eyebrow at Harry this time. He smirked and the words flew out of his mouth before he could think. “Are you flirting with me, your majesty?”

“Suppose I am, suppose I’m not.”

“Riddles now? I’m not that type of man, Harry.” Louis teased. “Anyways, what are you working on today? More receipts, more housing information, or what?” 

Harry started to hum as a he grabbed a few eggs from the pantry. “No, actually. I’m working on how things run here. Basically laws they have to follow. Won’t necessary take too long, but you know me.”

Louis scoffed. “Won’t take too long? You’ll be up all night doing that.”

“Unless I have motivation to finish soon. Would you like to volunteer to be that said motivation?”

“I’m not good at motivation, nor do I have a reason.” The boy shrugged as he traced his finger on the wooden table. “Besides, I’m not very helpful.”

The King shrugged his shoulders as he cracked the eggs into the pan, causing a crackling sound to erupt in the kitchen. “It doesn’t even matter if you’re not good a motivation anyways. Your presence motivates me. You could be the worst person in the world and you would be a motivation.”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “Am I the worst person in the world? Because I thought I was keeping the record for being the cutest one in the world.”

“Definitely not the worst, but possibly the other.” Harry says with a grin.

“Look at you flirting back at me. I don’t know how you’re going to mask your homosexual persona to the people.” The boy laughs, “They’re going to take you out of the castle and burn you at the sake.”

The King shrugs his shoulders, “I’ll just say that this straight boy who lives in my castle is making it too hard to not be gay.”

“Who, Niall?”

“No, silly. You.” Harry says as he flips the eggs.

Louis frowns and watches Harry cook; he forgot that he failed to mention to the entire castle that he was gay. Very gay. And he failed to mention that every time the King flirts with him, his entire stomach flips as his heart beats furiously in his chest. He wanted to tell Harry, and he felt obligated to; and now was the perfect opportunity to break the question.

He swallows back the lump in his throat. “Straight? Last time I checked, I was gay. Really gay. I mean like, other men nowadays tend to be more strong and whatnot. I’m as soft as a kitten. I could never be straight.”

Silence filled the room as Harry’s back stiffened. He paused what he was doing and Louis was sure the eggs were going to burn. Louis jumped up and walked towards Harry, grabbing the spatula out of his hands and taking the eggs off the pan.

“The eggs are going to burn if you just stare at them, Harry.” Louis walks over to the plate that Harry had set out for the eggs and set them on there. When he turned around, Harry was looking at Louis with eyes furrowed. 

“You’re gay?” He asks.

Louis nods slowly. “Yes, I am.”

“You’re kidding,”

“But I’m not,” Louis shrugs his shoulders. “Always have been gay, can’t really change that.”

Harry raises an eyebrow and walks up to Louis until their almost face to face. “So if I was to kiss you right now, would you hesitate?”

The boy’s eyes widened and he looked up at the King - his lips, his eyes, his jawline. He swallowed back the lump in his throat. “I - I mean, well, that’s not going to prove anything, because it depends whether -”

“If you’re really gay, then let me kiss you.”

Louis opens his mouth to speak and then closes it once Harry starts to lean in. His heart beats rapidly in his chest and his eyes close as he awaits the warmth on his lips. He could feel Harry’s breath tickle his skin and the warmth radiate off his face. 

“Hey, Harry? Have you seen Louis? I couldn’t find him in his - oh.” 

The boy quickly opens his eyes, his face quickly becoming hot. Niall stands in the doorway with his eyebrows raised. Harry, who was still very close, looked at the blonde one with dark eyes. Niall puts his arms up in defense and walks out of the doorway and away from the kitchen. The King lets out a sigh and moves his body away from Louis, and goes over to the loaf of bread.

He cuts a few pieces out and sets it on the pan where the eggs once were. He doesn’t speak, he doesn’t look Louis’ way. He just stands there, cooking toast, leaving the two in silence. Louis goes back over to the chair he sat at before and melts into the chair. His face still felt hot, and his heart was still thumping in his chest. 

“I’ll be awaiting a kiss from you to prove that you are actually gay.” Harry says slowly. “Until you do, you will be straight to me.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for no updates recently. where I live had gotten evacuated because there was a fire. and it was really dangerous where our house was soooo... sorry. lol. Everything is good tho!
> 
> also i am not sorry for this chapter.

A groan had left the smaller’s lips as he arched his back and gripped at the bedsheets. His body was uncontrollable as he lifted one arm up to put it back down again. Bare thighs were shaking as an unfamiliar hand stroked his member ever so slightly while the unfamiliar tongue lapped over his hole repeatedly.

His shaky breathing filled the dark room along with his small whimpers echoing off the walls. The entire room had the aroma of sex. Louis was getting closer and closer and his whimpers were becoming louder. 

The hand on his cock sped up to the speed of the tongue lapping over his hole. With every movement, it felt like Louis was going to lose it. Once everything became overwhelming, a loud cry left the boy’s mouth, hot liquid spilling all over his stomach. 

“Harry,” 

-

Louis’ eyes blinked open into the darkness of night. He furrowed his brows and ran a hand through his brown feathered hair. Down below, his member was throbbing. He obviously orgasmed in his sleep. With a sigh, Louis sat up from the bed and got up. He removed his sleep pants, along with the briefs Harry had given him. The boy chunked them in the laundry basket and went to his drawer to dig for clothes. 

He just had a wet dream - no, a wet dream about Harry. How embarrassing that was. What if Harry had came in the middle of the night to check on him and had found him that way? Louis shook his head and grabbed a pair of underwear and slipped them on. He then slipped into another pair of pyjama bottoms stretched his arms out. 

Louis wasn't tired anymore. In fact, he was wide awake. With a sigh, he walked over to his bed, pulling the blanket off and wrapping it around his body. He began to walk out his door to explore the castle. 

Since he's been here, Louis hadn't really the time to look around except for when one of the guys took him around - which was rare now. He has been spending most of his time along with Harry either in the library or his room. Never anywhere else except for those common rooms. The castle was huge and Louis didn't understand why they only habitat merely a quarter of the castle. 

He walked out his door and then began to go left. The only rooms on the third floor that he knew of were his and Liam and Zayn’s. There were ten other doors and even another floor for Christ sake. He let out a sigh and walked throughout the hallway. The moonlight seeping through the clouds and into the hallway gave off an eerie atmosphere. 

As he went deeper into hallway, you could tell that attention wasn't put into the area. The floor got more creakier with every step. It was strange - plus he never even saw one of the guys even look down the hall. Louis looked at one of the doors to his right. It was massive and had a very nice shade of white. He walked near it and gripped the doorknob, opening it up.

The air was cold and dust particles were flying everywhere. Louis stepped back, feeling his eyes water. He let out a sneeze and blinked his eyes open to the room. It was a woman’s room - the bed unmade and women's clothing scattered the room. What was odd, was that the window was wide open and letting in the cold air. Louis furrowed his eyes and went back into the hallway, closing the door. 

“Weird,” he whispered to himself - then shaking his head and continuing his way towards the end of the hallway. 

The insides of other doors were just bedrooms looking the same as the one before. Clothes scattered the floor, bed messy and dust flying everywhere. Except none of them had their window open unlike the other door. Louis furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. He was very confused; he had thought Niall did all the housework. Why would he ignore this section?

Louis continued down the hallway to the large door at the end. Once Louis approached the door at the end of the hallway, he figured the door would lead to the fourth floor. He place his small hand on the door handle and opened the door. When he opened the door, he didn't expect the door to feel like someone was trying to push it shut. With a whimper he pushed the door open and maneuvered himself inside. 

Cold wind felt like a slap to the face once Louis got around the door. He furrowed his eyes and wrapped the blanket tightly around his body. He was outside of the castle, never had he seen this part of the castle before. The feather-haired boy then started to walk down the long pathway. Concrete walls were at both sides of pathway, no wall higher than to Louis’ waist. 

He started to walk near to the edge, swallowing back the lump in his throat. Lining the concrete walls was a streak of red. It was stained on there, looking like it was almost a brown color. At the bottom was plain white snow but beside it had been bushes of flowers surrounding something. Louis couldn’t make out what it was quite yet. 

The boy then stepped away from the wall and continuing down the long path. He felt nauseous from looking at the walls; he was confused at how it could have happened - or how long ago did it happen? Was Harry alive during that time - of course he was alive, the walls were stained but they still had the hint of red to it.

At the end of the pathway had a large wooden door connecting to a tower. If someone were to see him walking down this pathway from afar, he would look like an ant crawling on a sandcastle. The castle was huge and took forever to get anywhere. By now, to get back to his room would require a ten minute walk. He let out a sigh and continued on.

Once he arrived at the door, he slowly creaked the door open to see a stairwell. He furrowed his eyebrows and walked inside, closing the door behind him. The younger looked up and saw that a candle was lit above. There were murmurs coming from the light, but not loud enough for Louis to distinguish. 

He began to walk up the stairs, careful enough to not make any loud movements that would have caught anyone’s attention. Louis knew that if Harry was to find him, he would be furious. Not only did he leave his room, he left without telling anyone or going with anyone. The boy could picture his voice now saying, ‘You are not permitted to leave without anyone. You are still mine.’

The younger swallowed back as he got nearer and nearer to the light. Voices were becoming more recognizable now; one of them was Liam, but the other didn't speak a word. He knew there were two due to tones of voices he heard from downstair, and besides, Liam wouldn't talk to himself - he's always talking to someone. 

“I don't know what to do anymore, Liam.” A deep voice groaned. It was definitely Harry. “Just because he is gay doesn't mean that he's even remotely attracted to me. Honestly, I'm going to die.”

Liam shushed him and let out a curse. “Don't talk like that, you don't know what he thinks just yet. Also, what's the kiss thing? Niall told me what you told him. You can't just demand someone to prove their sexuality by a forced kiss.”

“I'm getting desperate, Liam! I'm literally going to die if I don't -”

Louis was caught off by the conversation when a hand wrapped around his mouth. Another hand gripped around his waist as he squirmed out of their grip. He tried to plea for help, but his attempts were hopeless as he was drug down the stairs and out of the tower. Once he was outside, hands were released from his mouth and waist. 

Louis spun around and almost yelled at the person who had caught him by surprised until he saw Zayn with his eyes darted at the younger. “Zayn?”

“Are you insane? Who do you think you are trespassing? Did anyone give you permission to walk around the castle with no care?” Zayn hissed. “You're lucky I found you before Harry. You wouldn't even see tomorrow if he had.”

The smaller didn't answer, instead he had looked down at the ground with guilt cascading around him. He shrugged his shoulders and began to walk back to the door leading into the hallway of the third floor. 

“Christ, I'm not done with you. I'm not going to tell Harry, by the way. He has much more to worry about.”

Louis swallowed back and continued down the hallway. “Harry said he was dying.” Zayn didn't speak this time, causing silence to fill the gap between them. With a small voice, the younger muttered out, “Is it true?”

A long sigh came out of the raven haired man. There was a long pause until he answered. “Yes.”

 

Harry was dying and there was nothing Louis could do.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy early easter! maybe i'll post another chapter tonight

“Niall, where's Harry? I haven’t seen him all day.” Louis asks as he walks into the kitchen. The blonde boy doesn't look back as he does the dishes from the night before. The smaller walks over and stands beside Niall. He grabs a plate and begins to rinse it off. 

Niall let's out a sigh, “Ah, I think he's in his room about to leave. Why?”

The boy shrugs his shoulders and puts the plate on the rack. He grabs another plate and does the same. “Do you know where? Oh, and I had a question for him.”

“London, I believe. Might want to catch him before he leaves if it’s important. I don’t know when he’ll be back, he was talking about staying the night and such.”

Louis furrows his eyebrows and drops his shoulders. Harry was going away and decided not to tell him? He sighs and shakes his head; last time he had promised to take Louis - or rather he had promised to think about taking him to Doncaster with him. 

What if he didn’t come back?

The smaller gulps and steps away from the sink. “I’m… I’m going to go find him. Thank you, Niall.”

Louis begins to jog out of the kitchen and into the hallway. It’s been two days since he’s known of Harry’s fate. Never had it been able to leave his thoughts - even when he’s sleeping, he would have nightmares of Harry letting out a excruciating yell and slowly passing away beside Louis. His eyes were closed and Louis would cry out for help so he could finally - 

Could what?

The feather-haired boy let out a groan and began to run up the stairs. He didn’t understand how his heart ached at the thought of Harry slowly losing his consciousness alone - with no one to receive help. It was all making sense now; the cough that was increasing was the sickness slowly causing him to lose all energy. This was his fate.

Louis practically ran up to Harry’s door, knocking repeatedly, shouting for Harry. His heart was pounding and his brain was pleading for him to open the door. All he wanted was to see the King’s perfect green eyes stare into his crystal blue ones. How his heart hurt more; he was frantic.

The door swings open and Harry stares down at Louis with furrowed eyebrows. He’s got his black coat on and his scarf wrapped around his neck. Louis lets out a sigh in relief and without thinking, he quickly wraps his arms around the man’s waist and burying his face into his chest. Confused, Harry slowly wraps his arms around the smaller’s back.

“What’s wrong, Louis? I’ve never seen you act this way. Did one of the boys say something?” Harry warily asked.

“Don't go, please. I'm begging you.” 

Harry shuffles around. “What? Why? What's gotten into you?”

The smaller’s arms got tighter and he attempted to dig his face even more into the King’s chest. “If you go, take me with you.”

A sigh left Harry’s mouth and he wrapped his hands around Louis’ shoulders, pulling him away. “Look at me, what's wrong? This is very unlike you.”

Louis looked up at Harry and his heart began to pound faster. He blinked a few times before answering. “I don't want you to go. If you go, I want to go too.”

“Christ Louis, I can't. You know that the King of London doesn't trust you. This is an overnight trip. He could literally have you killed during the night when I'm not around.” The man runs a hand through his hair and let's out a groan. “Why don't you wanting me to go?”

“It… It's lonely! They leave me alone all day and don't talk to me! I don't want to stay in the library all day and who's going to remember to feed me? You’re the only one to talk to around here!” Louis cried out and wrapped his arms around Harry again. “I don’t want to be alone, please Harry.”

Harry let out a groan. “I have to leave, Louis. You know this, and your complaints won’t work. And no, I can’t take you with me. I’m sorry I’m the only source of entertainment around here, but I have work to do. I need to leave soon, so please stop.”

Louis sighs and released himself from Harry. He crosses his arms and looks away from the man. The smaller bit down on his lip, worried of the trip. Harry had said he was dying himself, and Louis knew his condition was getting worse. The cold from the outside could worsen his sickness and have him dead before returning home. 

“I’ll be home by noon tomorrow.”

The smaller shakes his head and begins to walk down the hallway. Harry calls after him, but he doesn't look back as he heads for the stairs. It was useless; there was nothing he could absolutely do. A lump formed in Louis’s throat and his eyes began to water. If Harry were not to come back, how would Louis tell the king how he really felt? Or matter of fact, prove his sexuality? 

“Fuck,” Louis choked as a tear slid down his cheek. He had to be stronger than this, showing his weakness would only worsen the situation. He began to run up the stairs, but a hand wrapped around his wrist. The smaller turned around, tears blurring his vision refusing to leave his eyes. 

Harry let out a sigh and brought a hand to wipe away the tear that had already fallen down Louis’ cheek. “You can’t do this to me before I leave and not give me a reason as to why you’re upset. Is your family going to be in London?” Louis shakes his head, causing Harry to let out another sigh. “Then what’s wrong? I’m not letting you go until you tell me.”

“I just -” Louis chokes up and more tears fall down his cheek. “I don’t want to be alone. I want to go with you.”

“I would if I could, Louis. I’m worried what the King would do. All night during the banquet, he complained about you and warned me of how you would eventually take all that I have or even kill me during my sleep. Do you really want to worry all night? Because there is no way he would let me and you share a room together.” Harry tells the smaller as he wipes the running tears off his face.

Louis shakes his head and closes his eyes. “Stay,”

The King groans and wraps his arms around the younger, pulling him into a hug. He gently rubs the back of Louis’ head as he cries softly. “I can’t, I already made plans for this trip a long time ago. There’s business to discuss. After this trip, I’ll take a break before trying to head to Doncaster, alright? And maybe I’ll take you on that one. Sound good?”

“What kind of business is this?”

“It’s to discuss when we’ll be deporting these people to the city, Lou. After that’s done, there will be no need to leave anymore. Not until I go to Doncaster.”

Louis wraps his arms around Harry’s waist loosely. “Why can’t it be done over mail?”

“Because,” The King moves the hair in front of the smaller’s eyes away. “The guy is a pain in my ass and wants to make everything hard. The Queen would have definitely done it over mail, but her husband is such a dick.”

The feather-haired boy nods and pulls away from Harry. He wipes away the remaining tears in his eyes and lets out a shaky breath. No matter how much Harry could try to sooth him, Louis was still terrified of the fact that the King could become more ill from the cold weather. Although, he had to act as he knew nothing of the sickness. Which is hard, considering he did just have a breakdown.

“Just… Be careful, please? I don’t want you to come back ill… Or in a state where you can’t even function.”

Harry chuckles. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry. And once I come home, you’ll be the first person to see me, okay?”

Louis nods and looks down at the ground. His heart was pounding in his chest; he wanted to reach up and give Harry a kiss. He bit down on his lip and his fingers began to twiddle with the hem of his shirt.

“I need to go now, alright? I’ll see you tomorrow at noon, I promise.” Harry says. He reaches forward and plants a kiss to the younger’s forehead. “See you later.”

And fuck, how Louis wished he had the spontaneous energy to run up to the King and leave a kiss right on his lips.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so. this is the last chapter i had until my stupid self accidentally deleted the story.   
> also i said i was going to update last night but i got tired (lol sorry) and i realized what chapter this one was.  
> DON'T LEAVE THE STORY YET PLS :( I'M KINDA SORRY ABOUT THIS CHAPTER BUT NOT REALLY.

“Louis, you need to eat.” Niall says as he pushes the bowl towards the younger. “If you don’t eat, Harry will be angry. At me. Spare my life.”

The smaller shrugs his shoulders and looks down at the beef soup. His stomach turned at the thought of Harry becoming too weak and falling off his horse. A shaky sigh left his mouth and he propped his elbows on the table, his head falling into his hands. Louis couldn’t stop thinking or imagining scenarios where Harry would die on the trip. It was causing his appetite to drop and his motivation to fall.

“What’s wrong with you? Usually you’d be asking for seconds by now.” Liam tells him. Zayn sits beside the brown eyed on, silently eating his food - knowing what has the smaller in such a mood.

Louis groans. “I’m not hungry, okay?” 

“Aw, are you upset that your Harry didn’t take you with him?” Niall teased. “It’s okay Lou, I’m sure he misses you.”

“Fuck off,” The smaller hisses.

“Feisty, I like it. You haven’t acted the way did when you first got here until now. I miss that Louis, he was sassy and hostile.” Liam laughs. “Now you’re just head over heels for Harry, but instead of love, it’s more of a father-like figure.”

Louis wanted to vomit; in no way did he see Harry as a father. That was far off of what he had in mind for the King. His father had died of an unknown cause back when Louis was around ten. It was very sudden and couldn’t be prevented. A week after the death, his mother wouldn’t touch her tarot cards and refused to go to work at the pubs. To this day, Louis believes that his mother knew before his father died and didn’t stop it in any sort of way. 

Before his father died, Louis was very dependent on his father. He would follow him to work and help him out as much as he needed, he would go to his father’s room after a nightmare to sleep with him, and he would try to imitate every move to be just like his father. Before he had died, the man was Louis’ life. 

The smaller stood up from the table, pushing his chair in. All eyes were on him and silence filled the room. With a sigh, he moved the hair in his face away and began to speak. “I’m going to my room. Don’t bother with the food, I’ll tell Harry I ate.”

He then began to walk out of the room, no one calling for him to come back. Louis ran a hand through his hair as he walked down the hallway towards the stairs. His mind was racing of worryful thoughts and all his memories with Harry. He swallowed back the lump in his throat and stopped in his tracks.

Louis slumped his body against the wall and let out a whine. He regretted not having kissed Harry before he left or simply blocking the way until it was far too late to travel. His body slid down until he was sitting in the floor. His shirt rode up while he went down, showing his bare chest. A cool hand went to his tiny tummy and rested against the bare skin.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Louis thought. Anything he could have done, anything. For all he knew, Harry was already dead. Laying in the snow, the horse already gone to shelter, leaving Harry to shiver. Lips blue, teeth clacking together, joints frozen.

Louis didn’t even attempt to show his feelings before he was gone.

A whimper left his lips as he brought his knees to his chest. He buried his face into his knees as a tear slid down his cheek. Everyone he loved left him, never to return. 

Love…

Was it really love? Or simply infatuation?

Footsteps came down the hallway, stopping in front of Louis. He didn’t look up to see, he was too embarrassed to show his face; he couldn’t even understand his own emotions, it was a tornado inside of his head.

“Louis, stand up.” It was Zayn; his black boots were beside Louis’ bare feet. Black like his hair, black like his emotions, black like his aura. Louis had a strange vibe from Zayn, he didn’t really trust him as much as the others. Zayn rarely spoke, and if he did it was never like the others. He spoke about information regarding the castle or the town.

“No,” The smaller murmured, “Leave me here to die..”

Zayn let out a sigh. “This kid will be the death of me.” 

Unexpectedly, a hand wrapped around Louis’ forearm and yanked him up. Louis hissed at the grip on his arm when he was fully stood up, but Zayn ignored him and started to walk forward, bringing the smaller along with him.

“Let go of me, I’m not a doll. For God’s sake, Zayn.” Louis cried out. The man ignored him as he brought him upstairs, the grip becoming tighter on his arm. 

Louis tried to yank his arm away but all his attempts were unsuccessful. A whimper left his mouth as he tried once more, but as doing so, he was greeted with a hard slap to the face. The hand left his arm and the smaller fell to the ground as his hands reached up to touch his nose.

“Shit, Louis,” Zayn began to say.

The smaller shook his and began to maneuver himself away from the man. He let go of his nose to look at the damage. Blood. His nose stung as blood poured out uncontrollably. What did he do to deserve this?

“Louis, don’t fucking cower away from me. I didn’t mean to.” Zayn says as he walks towards the younger with his hands up in defense. “Shit, Harry’s going to kill me.”

The boy lets out a whimper and hides his face when Zayn reaches out a hand. The man curses and kicks the wall beside Louis. 

“Zayn?”

Louis looks over at the direction the voice came from. Niall stood there with eyes furrowed. The blonde boy looks over at Louis and puts a hand over his mouth. He then looks back up at Zayn and shakes his head.

“Zayn, what the hell?” Niall looks back at Louis once more. “Fuck, Harry’s going to be pissed. I can already feel it.”

The raven-haired man lets out a desperate sigh. “It’s not what it looks like, I swear. I didn’t fucking mean to - I - I was taking him to his room and my grip was too harsh on his arm. He yanked back and my instincts were to hit - Fuck, it’s not what it looks like.” Zayn tries to approach Niall, but the blonde one backs away and shakes his head. 

Louis stands up from his spot on the floor, wiping the blood on his shirt and runs towards Harry’s room down the hallway. The patting of his bare feet causes Zayn to turn around and curse, calling out for the smaller. Before Zayn could have the chance to even try to catch Louis, the door to the King’s room slams shut.

-

The door squeaks open as Harry walks into the castle, letting out a muffled cough. Niall is walking down the stairs when the curly-haired man is entering the castle. Harry closes the door behind him, taking off his hat to let his curls loose.

“Harry, you’re back.” Niall says as he comes downstairs and towards Harry.

The man nods and removes his thick coat. Niall takes the hat and coat from his hands and lays them on his elbow. “Ah, yeah. Left at five in the morning. What is it now? Ten? Eleven?”

“Uh, I think it’s ten. We haven’t had breakfast yet, so it’s that early.” Niall tells him.  
“Louis okay? I’ve been worrying about him ever since I left the castle.” Harry sighs. “The king of London had some nasty things to say about him when I brought him up. I wish I could have taken him.”

“Louis is…” The blonde man pauses, remembering the night before. “He’s breathing?”

Harry rolls his eyes. “Not what I asked, but okay.” The man begins to walk towards the staircase. “Did you guys eat last night? He was complaining that you three hardly fed him when I’m gone.”

“We ate beef soup, but he didn’t eat because he was too upset that you had left without him.” Niall says, “Oh, and when-”

“Hang on,” Harry says as he cracks his neck to the left. He starts to walk up the stairs, Niall following behind him with a frown on his face. “I remembered that the King of London told me that we should invest in a carpet or rug of some sort for the stairs. What do you think? He said it helps with the extreme cold steps during winter.”

The blonde boy looks at the stairs and sighs. “I don’t know. The only one who runs around here barefooted is Louis. Plus, what if the rug slips out of place when you’re walking?”

“That is true.”

They began to walk to the king’s room in silence. Niall knew that Harry would freak out once he saw Louis in his bed with blood staining the pillow and his skin. Zayn had run off with nothing more to say after Louis shut himself out and went to his room. Liam had promised to try to calm him down and find out what had happened really.

Last night was a mess, Niall thought. And he would be getting the blame from it. Louis had Harry wrapped around his tiny finger so much that Harry would go absolutely insane to find his precious Louis in a state like that. 

Harry was whipped for the kid.

They approached the door, Niall began to pray to the heavens. Harry opened the door, a grin cracking on his face when he saw the lump in his bed. What if he just ran? Niall thought of what he could do before Harry got closer.

“Can’t sleep in his own bed, I see?” Harry smiles and walks closer to the boy. 

“Harry, there’s something you should know.” Niall says softly.

The man furrows his eyebrows and looks at the blonde boy. “What?”

“It’s about Louis.” Harry looks over at Louis and he gets closer to the smaller. The view gets closer, the blood staining on the pillow. “Something happened while you were gone and -”

“Louis?” Harry says shakily. The man sits down on the bed, his hand directly going to Louis’ face. “Louis, wake up please.”

The boy’s blue eyes flutter open and he turns his head to look at the man. “Harry?” He asks softly. 

Harry freezes when he sees the stained blood on Louis’ face coming from his nose. A small cut was placed in the gap between his nose and his pretty pink mouth. The man closes his eyes, and his frame tenses up. Harry knew that the boy did not have this cut on his face before he had left. 

“What happened to him, Niall? I left you in charge to look after him and,” His voice raised and Harry stood up facing the blond boy. “His face is stained red with blood and there’s a cut on his face that hadn’t been there before. What the fuck happened, Niall?”

There was a pause before Louis spoke up.

“Zayn hit me.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls don't hate me about zayn :(((( it will be fixed. anyways this is the last pre-wrote chapter I have so it may take me a while to write the next one! sorry about that

The curly haired man practically bolted out of the room after Louis spoke. He slammed the door behind him, leaving the blonde headed boy and the smaller in the room in complete silence. Niall lets out a sigh and rubs his temples. Louis couldn’t imagine how angry the King must be; everyone around him always teased at how Harry was wrapped around the smaller’s finger. This was one of those instances.

“Niall?” Louis asked with a small voice. “Can you help me clean this up? It’s irritating my skin.”

The other nodded and let out a sigh. “Yes, come with me. Don’t want Harry to rampage any more than he has. Also, can you take off the pillowcase as well?”

-

Harry balled his fists up until his fingertips were turning white. He had raced up the stairs and stomped down the hallway towards Liam and Zayn’s door. The man was so angry his body was trembling and his face was probably beet red. He reached for the doorknob, finding it was locked shut. 

“Fucking Zayn!” Harry screamed at the top of his lungs. “Open the damn door now!”

His fist came in contact with the wooden door, creating a loud bang. He kept hitting the door, not caring of the pain erupting in his hand. He yelled again, this time his breath catching in his lungs and stopping his sentence halfway as the man began to have an uncontrollable coughing fit. 

Harry squatted down to the ground still coughing his lungs out into his elbow as his other hand banged on the door. Soon enough, he was gasping for air and leaning on the ground, ready to vomit as he coughed, his phlegm dripping from his lips down to the ground. The door opened that he had previously been beating on.

The curly-haired man didn’t look as his coughing fit died down, leaving him to shake on the ground. He wiped his mouth and glared at the man standing in the doorway. Zayn looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

“Do you need help?” Asked the raven-haired man as he lent out a hand.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” Harry snapped as he stood himself up. A wave of unsteadiness hit him as he looked at Zayn. “If you ever touch Louis again, I will fucking have you killed before the church does. If that boy ever has another scratch on his face and he has blood stained on his face, I will break that pretty nose of yours.”

Harry leans on the wall in front of him, his forehead resting on the wall as his legs shook underneath him. He let out a hiss followed by a curse as his legs gave out, his body falling to the ground. 

“Li?” Zayn calls out in the room. “Can you help Harry?”

-

Louis ate his breakfast in silence as he kept looking at Niall who was writing down on a piece of paper. The boy was all clean and wearing new clothes, although his lips were still noticeably cut up, along with the cut between his nose and mouth. Louis was sure the cuts had come from the rings on Zayn’s hands. The slap was more of a backhand, but hard enough to give him a nosebleed. 

The smaller hadn’t seen Harry since earlier, after he had bolted out the door. After the man left, Niall had helped him clean all the blood off his face, even with some hesitation on his lips. Then they both had washed the sheets on Harry’s bed that had gotten stained and replace it with new ones.

With a sigh, Louis pushed his plate forward. “It hurts to eat.”

“I’m sorry, Louis. Want some soup from last night?” 

“No, it would probably sting.” He let out a groan as his stomach growled. “Where’s Harry? I haven’t seen him.”

Niall looked up from the paper and set his pen down. “I believe he’s in his room. You should go see him. He’s not feeling well.”

The smaller nodded and stood up from the table. He began to walk to the man’s room, worried of his well being. Louis knew the trip was no good for him, it would only make him sicker than he already was. A lump formed in his throat as he imagined Harry laying in bed, barely breathing. His feet began to move faster.

Finally, he found himself at the man’s door, his fist raised at the door to knock. He didn’t know why he was so scared, he had even been counting the hours for Harry’s return last night. And now he was too nervous to knock. The smaller took a deep breath and knocked quietly on the door. He wasn’t sure if the man had heard him until a hoarse voice called to come in.

Louis opened the door and walked in. He played with the hem of his t-shirt as he stared at Harry who was at his desk, writing down on paper. The man paused what he was doing to look at the smaller who walked in his room. Harry’s expression changed from irritation to compassion in less than a second when his eyes met Louis’.

“Hi silly.” Harry says with a smile.

“Hi Harry. Are you feeling okay?” The smaller asks, walking more into the room, closer to Harry. He stands in front of the man, his small hand going towards Harry’s forehead. It was hot.

He chuckles and reaches for Louis’ hand. “I’m fine, I should be asking you that.”

“I’m okay. It hurts to eat though, and I’m hungry to make matters worse.”

Harry furrows his eyebrows and reaches his other hand that wasn’t holding Louis’ to run his thumb across the smaller’s lips. Louis winces at the touch and jerks his head back. “I didn’t know your lips were cut as well. I’m sorry, Louis.”

Louis swallows back. He wanted to ask Harry to kiss it better or something cheesy along those lines. Instead, he nods and goes in for a hug. Harry hugs him tightly, his arms tied around the smaller’s waist as Louis buries his face into the man’s neck.

“I’m glad you’re back, Harry.” Louis says softly.

“Me too,” Harry says as he rests his head on Louis’ shoulder. “I’m not leaving for a while, okay? Also, my sister is coming to stay next week. I can’t wait for you to meet her, I think you will really like her. She’s much nicer than I am.”

The boy pulls back from the hug and rolls his eyes. “You’re better than you were when I first got here, that’s for sure.”

“Hey! I was just irritated that your mom sent you instead.” Harry laughs. 

“I'm sorry I'm not female or a witch. I'm sorry I couldn't fit your standards.” Louis shrugs his shoulders.

Harry rolls his eyes and licks his lips, “You know my type is not female. It’s definitely not witch either.”

Louis grins and examines Harry’s face. “Niall said you weren’t feeling well. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

He nods and lets out a sigh. “I should have dressed more warm. By the time I got to the castle, I couldn’t feel my toes. And on top of that, it takes a toll out of you when you scream bloody murder.” Harry chuckles and raises an eyebrow. “Niall did take my bedsheets, correct? As much as I do enjoy your presence, I do not particularly want to lay in your blood.”

“Yes, Niall took your sheets.” The smaller laughed. There was a pause before Louis spoke again. “I was worried that you wouldn’t have dressed appropriately. You don’t need to be sick.”

Harry shrugs, “It’s not like it bothers me. I’ve had a cough for how long?”

“Maybe you should get that checked out, Harry. It’s… It’s worrying me.” The boy says quietly. 

The man sighed and leaned his head back to the point where his adam’s apple was sticking out. His eyes closed and from Louis’ position, Harry looked like an angel sent down from the Gods above. The smaller bit down on his lip as he stared at the skin in front of him. He wanted to run his lips against the skin and leave purple marks up and down his throat. Louis let out a silent breath as he tried think of something else - something that wouldn’t make his pants tighter.

“I’m fine, Louis.”

“Are you sure? Your skin has progressively gotten lighter.” Louis pointed out.

Harry hummed and the corners of his mouth began to turn upwards. “It’s winter, my summer tan does begin to fade during the cold days. Anyways, enough about me.” He sits up in his chair and looks at the boy. “What happened when I was gone?”

His fingers reach over to Louis to inspect his face. The cut above his lip left a deep red mark and the one on his lips had purple surrounding the cut. Harry’s smile began to drop as his fingers touched the cuts. Louis winced at the touched but still allowed the man’s hands to travel his mouth. 

“I don’t want to be angry with Zayn, I just want to know what happened. Was it a mistake?”

Louis turned his head so that Harry’s fingers left his mouth. He let out a sigh before speaking. “The boys were teasing me last night for being worried about you. I lost my appetite and said I would be in my room. Along the way, I just slumped against the wall. I didn’t want to go to my room.”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. “Did the others not care?”

“Ah, the others were almost done with their dinner anyways.” The smaller said. “I was pouting at the time when Zayn found me against the wall. He tried to get me to stand up and walk with him. He forced me up and made me walk with him, but his grip on me was tight - I might have a bruise, honestly.”

The man quickly pulled the sleeve of Louis’ shirt up to inspect his arm. Thankfully, no sign of bruising was there. “He’s lucky,” Harry grumbled.

A laugh escaped the smaller’s lips. “It’s okay, calm down. Anyways, I was being stubborn as usual and as I tried to yank my arm free to yell at Zayn, he swung his arm around and it hit me. It wasn’t intentional or even much of a slap. His rings did the damage.”

“Are you sure? Aren’t you upset?” Harry asks.

Louis shook his head. “I’m sure, and I was upset. I’ve come to the realization that he didn’t mean to. Before Niall had saw us, Zayn was trying to help me. Although, I was pretty terrified at the time.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Did I yell at Zayn for no apparent reason, Louis?”

“Will I be in trouble if I said yes?”

The man closes his eyes and smiles. “No, silly. I need to apologize soon.”

“I need to talk to him too. To tell him it’s okay.”

Harry let out a small laugh and leaned back into his chair. His eyes were still shut and his fingers laid across his abdomen, intertwined together. Louis bit the inside of his cheek before shakily lowering himself down until his face was inches from Harry’s. The smaller closed his eyes before leaving a tender kiss on the King’s cheek.

“Was that enough to prove myself?”

It was then when Louis realized that he was falling head over heels for the King of Holmes Chapel.

-

That night, Louis was sound asleep, light snores leaving his tiny lips. In the background, thumps were coming from the hallway of the third floor. The thumping became too loud that Louis scrunched his nose and woke up. His eyes fluttered open, the tiredness filling his body immediately. He let out a yawn and sat up on his bed. The smaller brought a hand up to run through his long hair as he sat up. 

“What the hell, Zayn?” Liam yelled. He spoke again, but it was muffled through the door.

Louis furrowed his eyebrows and began to walk towards the door. Things were beginning to crash against the wall. The sound of glass shattering muffled Liam’s yells. When Louis got to his door, he opened it to reveal Zayn standing in the hallway, a glare set on his face. Liam stood in their doorway, holding glass objects in his hands, his face red as a cherry. 

“Leave me, Zayn. I fucking dare you.” Liam seethed. 

A long sigh left Zayn’s mouth. “Listen Li, I'm doing this for the best.”

“Guys?” Louis asked quietly. 

“Oh, look! You've woken up the pet.” Liam mocks, “You should've known Harry would have reacted the way the did for a reason. Can't just slap the boy he's in-”

Zayn shakes his head. “Quiet Liam. Louis, go back to bed.”

The smaller shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows. “Why are you leaving?”

“If I stay here, it wouldn't be good for Harry. He's angry with me, it's only making him sick.” The man said calmly. 

“What? No, no, Zayn,” Louis began to walk near the man. “I talked with Harry, I explained it to him. You didn't mean to, Harry knows now. Please don't leave us, we need you.”

“See? Get your ass inside this room.” Liam yelled. 

Zayn averted his eyes and crossed his arms. “I don't know.”

“Zayn, please,” Louis bit the inside of his cheek before speaking. “I don't want to be the reason you have to leave.”

“Louis? Go to bed.” A voice spoke. Louis turned around to meet Harry’s tired gaze. “Zayn, can I speak with you in private?”

The boy frowned and turned towards Harry. “But, I-”

He shook his head. “No discussion, just go back to bed, okay?”

 

That night, Louis couldn't go back to sleep.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry guys. long waited chapter. School is so stressful right now. :// Plus this chapter is short. I promise to write more when summer starts!

It has been a week since Zayn threatened to leave; thankfully, Harry had talked him out of leaving and to stay. Liam has been bitter ever since. He wouldn’t talk to anyone, his eyes were sharp, and he distanced himself. Even Zayn, he won’t talk to his own boyfriend. 

Louis was walking down the hallway, messing with his hair. It was longer than it has been in years, and he hated it. He let out a groan and tug on the strands he had in his hand. It hung over his eyes and tickled his nose, he had to part his hair down the middle to move it away.

The smaller sighed and began to walk to the King. When the smaller reached Harry’s door, he knocked softly. His feet shuffled around before the curly-haired man opened the door. A grin formed on his face as he looked at the taller.

“Hi Louis,” He smiled, “What do you need?”

The boy reached up to grab his hair. “A haircut; can you give me one? It’s been a while and I’m tired of my hair tickling my nose.”

Harry laughed and pulls Louis into his room. “Okay, okay. Are you sure it’s not because you want to impress my sister tomorrow?” Louis rolls his eyes and plops himself on Harry’s bed. “Speaking of which, have you packed?”

“Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t.”

“You haven’t, haven’t you? Okay, after I cut your hair, we’re going to pack your bags.”

Louis scoffs. “We’re? Your majesty, you know good and well that you’re going to be packing for me while I lay in my bed.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Guess I’ll only pack women’s clothing for you.”

“That’s mean, Harry.” He whined.

“Okay, maybe I wouldn’t do that.” He chuckled and began to look around. “Anyways, can you go to my bathroom, please? I’ll meet you in there, I just need to get the scissors.”

The smaller stands up from the bed and begins to walk over to the bathroom conjoined with Harry’s bedroom. He flicks on the light and looks around. A deep shade of blue covered the walls and the room was cleaner than the entire castle. To think his dirty brown locks would cover the spotless marble floors upsets him.

“Harry,” Louis calls out. “We should do this in the bathroom in the hallway.”

“Why?” Harry asked when he walked in. He had scissors in his hands and a comb in the other. “It’s fine, just sit down on the toilet.”

The smaller furrows his eyebrows. “But, this room is too pretty to dirty with my hair.

“Oh goodness, you’re silly. Let me cut your hair, Niall will clean it up. I don’t pay him to sit around all day.”

-

The next morning, Louis had woken up to Harry softly shaking him. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the man with confused eyes. The man had told him to get ready and get to the dining table for breakfast. Louis had forgotten that they were to go to Manchester today. 

When the smaller had gotten dressed, he had cringed at the clothing that Harry picked out for him: A beige trench coat with a white button up. Louis rolled his eyes and took his bag that the man packed for him last night and headed for the dining room.

His eyes were tired, and his body was weak. Last night, Louis was too excited to sleep; it was the first trip Harry has ever taken him with. Although he was exhausted, he was excited to finally get out of the stuffy castle. 

Louis yawned when he finally reached the dining room. Niall sat at the table, going through the mail and throwing the junk to the side. Liam sat beside him, eating cereal silently and his eyes darted on the bowl in front of him. Zayn was probably in their room, either sulking or sleeping. It was rare that the man had actually came down to eat with them. With a grunt, the smaller plopped himself in a chair across from Niall. 

“Anything interesting?” 

Niall sighed and placed the letters down. “Not really; just the families demanding information and safety. Harry can deal with it when he gets back. If they were that worried about the city, then why wouldn't they come check it out instead of mail letters? Ridiculous, honestly.”

“Can't blame them,” Harry says as he walks in. He placed a water bottle in front of Louis and a plate with two eggs on it. “I wouldn't want to put my family at risk, just to move away. It's a difficult decision and there's not much you can do.”

Louis looked at him. “Some kings are more brutal with their people. As far as to make it impossible to go from nothing to something.”

“Yeah? How was it in Doncaster, what were your aspirations?” 

The smaller shrugged his shoulders and stabbed his eggs. “I didn't know what I was going to do. Maybe a part time job at the bookstore, so I would be able to watch my siblings during the day.”

Harry hummed and ruffled Louis’ hair. “Your hair looks nice.”

“It feels nice too; I'm glad that I had you cut it.” Louis told him, “It feels more fluffier and bouncier.”

“Good,” He grinned. “Anyways, hurry up and eat. We're leaving soon. Do you know how to ride a horse?”

“Is that a joke?” Louis scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Of course I know how to ride a horse. How else would I have gone into Doncaster? We lived in the outskirts.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Attitude,” He let out a sigh and sat down next to Niall. Louis glared at the man and continued to eat. “Niall, is there any mail from Hawkins?”

The blonde boy sighed and flipped through the letters once more. “Not with me. Tomorrow, when Zayn or Liam retrieves the mail, I’ll check again.”

When Liam’s name was mentioned, he sat up from the chair and began to carry his bowl of milk to the kitchen. Harry eyed him as he left, sighing to himself. Silence filled the air and Louis quietly finished his eggs. 

“Who’s Hawkins?” Louis asked, breaking the silence. “You've never talked about him before.”

“Nothing to worry about.” Harry smiled. “Are you done?”

The smaller nodded and leaned back in his chair. The man got up and grabbed the plate, taking it to the kitchen. Louis stood up from his chair, stretching his limbs. He grabbed the water bottle and placed it into his bag. With a sigh, he began to mess with his hair. Niall raised an eyebrow at him and smirked to himself.

Louis glared. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing.” He said in defense. “Nothing at all, puppy.”

Before Louis could make a snarky remark, Harry walked in. The smaller glared at Niall and turned around to look at Harry. He was buttoning his black trenchcoat, and from this point of view, Harry looked angelic. His brown curly hair was tucked behind his ear, and his cheekbones complimented his face. Although, his pink lips, that were a different shade every time he seen him, fit well with his olive skin. 

“Niall, I want you to clean up the kitchen, as well as my bathroom. It still has Louis’ hair in it. Also, make sure Liam or Zayn don’t do anything stupid. Neither of them are to leave.”

“Aye aye, captain!” The blonde boy said as he saluted Harry. “You'll be back with Gemma tomorrow, yes?”

He nodded. “Mind cleaning her room as well?”

“Only if you add it to my paycheck.”

Harry rolled his eyes and laughed. “Ready to go?”

-

Hours later, Louis was trying to keep his head up. His tired eyes would close, causing the horse to drift off of the trail. Harry would have to call his name to come back to his senses. Finally, the boy just sighed and brought his hands to his eyes, rubbing them to wake up. The sky was dark and Louis’ stomach was growling. He wasn’t sure what time it was or how far away from Manchester they were.

“Harry, I’m tired and hungry.” Louis whined. “How much longer until we’re there?”

The man hummed. “Not long; do you see the lights over there?” Louis squinted his eyes and straightened his back to look. “We’ll be there in no time.”

“Is your sister waiting for us?” The smaller asked. 

“Yes, she has a room for us. Also, my sister lost all of the riches once she, erm, ran away.” Harry smiled softly at him. “So don’t expect much, alright?”

Louis nodded and grinned. 

And for some reason, he had an odd feeling in his stomach.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here is the chapter! :D seeeeee, I didn't abandon it. ok but like band camp is fun. Also i'm a drum major! so fun :-)

“Harry, you showed up!” 

A young woman had ran out of her cottage with her arms wide open. Harry had hopped off his horse and greeted the woman. Her face buried into his chest, blonde hair tangling with her arms. Her black and white dress flapped in the air as she swayed back in forth. Louis silently got off of the horse and smiled at the two. 

“Wouldn't miss it for the world,” Harry chuckled. “You have a lovely home.”

Her arms dropped from the tall curly lad and looked over at Louis. She smiled at looked up at Harry. “Who’s your friend? I don’t think I’ve met him before.”

He brought a hand up to run through his long brown hair. “That’s Louis; I actually have a long story to explain to you, but you have to promise not to be upset.”

“Why would I be upset? Hi Louis, I’m Gemma, Harry’s sister. Ah, you guys should come inside and eat dinner. I’ll have Jonathan come out and put the horses in the stable.” She grinned at the two and ran to the door, holding it open.

Louis raised an eyebrow at Harry and let out a small laugh before walking in before him. 

-

It was different than a castle, Louis noticed. He had been used to living in luxury for a long time, that he actually had forgotten what it was like to live in a cottage. To be fair, this cottage was bigger than his own back in Doncaster, and much more decorative. Although, Louis really enjoyed the atmosphere. It was warmer than the castle, which had felt very empty. To stay in a place that feels more lively is more comforting.

“You guys arrived pretty late. Everything go well on the trip?” Gemma asked, taking a sip of her milk.

Harry nodded and sat down his fork. “We just left later than expected. Sorry for making you wait so long. Has everything been going well?”

“Yeah! It’s been going very well. Oh, before I forget, what was that you were supposed to tell me? About your friend.”

Louis looked over at Harry, watching him bite down on his lip. The man sighed and looked at the younger.

“Promise you won’t be upset.”

“What? Why?” She furrowed her eyebrows.

“It’s complicated and I don’t want you to be upset. We’re really good friends now, and it’s not like that anymore.”

“Harry, what are you talking about?”

Louis looked at his hands silently; the tension in the air about him caused his heart to race. What if Gemma forced Harry to take him back to Doncaster? He would have nowhere to go. His home was probably sold and his old friend, Stan, probably wouldn’t recognize him anymore.

The man let out a long breath. “So roughly six months ago, I set up a meeting to meet a witch. You know, to do the tarot card reading.”

“Are you insane? She could have put a spell on you or something, Harry!” She exclaimed, looking bewildered.

The smaller bit back his tongue and looked the other way. He couldn’t standing having his mother talked poorly about. It was still a strange battle in his head over his family. Some days, he was okay with it; other days, he couldn’t stand the thought of his mother. Louis was conflicted and it was honestly hurting him at this point.

Harry cleared his throat, “Gemma, enough; let me finish, alright?” He let out a breath and looked down at the smaller before continuing. “Things didn’t turn out right. Instead of a witch, I got Louis.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “Louis?”

“Louis is the witch’s son, actually. She had refused to come to the castle in Holmes Chapel, trying to flee to Paris instead. A mistake on our behalf, we paid before she came. Louis stood up for her, blocking the gun threat and he offered himself.”

Gemma looked at the smaller, her eyebrows still furrowed. “Louis, he wasn’t going to have her killed. I’ve known Harry for way too long, he won’t even kill a fly.”

The boy looked down and shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t know Harry then. I was scared for my mother.”

“Wait,” She looked over at Harry. “If this happened six months ago, then why is he still here?”

Harry averted his eyes. “The deal was: we would keep Louis ‘enslaved’ until his mother showed up to the castle. She never came, she’s in Paris.”

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, Louis. You must be so hurt. Harry, you need to let him go. It’s ridiculous that you’re even keeping him.” 

“No,” Louis quickly said. The two looked over at him. He looked up at Gemma and bit his lip before continuing. “No, I don’t want to see her. I don’t want to go back. The castle is my home now.”

Silence filled the room as Louis looked back down. His fingers played with the sleeves of his sweater. It was the first time someone had mentioned freedom, and Louis quickly shot it down. There were times where Louis thought about leaving the castle, but he never wanted to actually leave. It was more of an exploring type of thought. 

Harry was his home.

Gemma was the first to break the silence. “Are you guys tired? I can show you to your room. Unfortunately, there’s only one bed. So, you can either share or one of you can take the couch.”

“I think we’re sharing, right Louis?” Harry asked, putting a hand on the smaller’s shoulder. Louis nodded and looked up at him. “Yeah, we’re sharing.”

Gemma raised an eyebrow before standing up. “Alright, follow me. We’re leaving early morning, right?”

Harry stood up from the table and stretched out his back. “If you don’t have anything to do, then yes. Is Jonathan coming with us?”

“No, he has work. You know, he’s a knight. We can’t leave unexpected like this, don’t want to upset the King.” She sighed. “Anyways, let’s go to your room. Are you coming, Louis?”

The smaller looked up, nodding at the girl. He gave her a soft smile and stood up, following the two.

-

Louis looked up at the ceiling and let out a small breath. The room was dark, and the only noises were the bed sheets crumpling and breathing. Harry wasn’t asleep, Louis could tell; whenever he would stay with Harry for the night, the man would snore softly. As for now, it was silence.

“Harry?” The smaller whispered, “Why are you awake?”

The king hummed. “How could you tell?” He turned around until he was staring the boy in the eyes. 

Louis smiled. “You’d be snoring by now. Something bothering you?”

Harry frowned and closed his eyes. His eyelashes laid perfectly onto his skin. Louis thought the man was gorgeous. The man groaned and opened his eyes again. This time, his eyebrows were furrowed and eyes painfully looking at Louis.

“Why don’t you want to leave the castle? I’ve never let you leave, except for now. Don’t you want to go back to Doncaster?”

“I…” Louis paused. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to go back. If I were to go back, I’d have nothing. Not even a job. I would go back to being a peasant, and… I like living at the castle.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “I could get you a job and a house if that’s what you’re worrying about. I mean, I’m a King, Louis. Plus, the King of Doncaster seems to be very fond with me. I’ve mailed him a couple of times.”

Louis shook his head. “No, I don’t want to go back even if you did that for me. I don’t have a family there. My family is in the castle, in Holmes Chapel. Harry, you’re my home.”

“I’m your… Home?” Harry said quietly.

The boy gulped and turned his body around. “Forget I said anything. It doesn’t matter.”

Silence filled the room again as Louis curled himself into a ball. He didn’t mean to say Harry was his home. His brain was rambling again, and it just came out. It was a few minutes until Louis decided to close his eyes and go to sleep. He was drifting off to sleep until foreign arms wrapped themselves around his body.

-

“This is a long journey, Harry.” Gemma tells him. “I don’t know how you do it.”

The three were riding along the trail, Harry and Gemma side by side, and Louis in the back silently. It was becoming dark, and Holmes Chapel was in the distance. The urge to speed past the two and finally be reunited with his bed was strong for Louis. Although, he enjoyed the company, Louis felt as if he were a bother and he missed his alone time. 

Harry laughed and sighed. “I don’t know how I do it either. Louis by my side is probably kept me from having you come by yourself. Trust me, I was tempted, and it was a strong urge.”

“Dick,” She laughed. “Louis, how old are you?”

The boy perked his head up at the sound of his name. “Oh, uh, twenty. My birthday was not too long ago.” 

Gemma nodded. “Yeah? Well, you’re not too far from Harry. He’s twenty-three, and I’m twenty-six.”

“You’re so old, Gemma.” Harry complained. “Don’t break a hip.”

She scoffed. “Excuse me? Who’s married here? Also, I have a child. I’m winning, what do you have?”

“Let’s see,” Harry hummed, “A Kingdom, royal servants, all the riches I could ever want, and the best slave that really isn’t a slave. Who’s winning now?”

Louis blushed and looked down to his hands. He was thankful that it was too dark out for the two to recognize his facial features. Louis brought his hands up to his face, letting go of the saddle. His eyes were tired, and he was tired of travelling already. It had only been two days and he was missing his bed. However, Louis enjoyed the time with Harry.

“Okay, I left the Kingdom so I wouldn’t have to be in this weird construction phase.” Gemma told him. “But I do miss it. Are all the other boys around?”

Harry sighed. “The boys are still there. As for the others, they left shortly after you. Technically, they didn’t leave willingly.”

Louis perked his head up and furrowed his eyebrows. Were they talking about all the empty rooms on the third floor? How every one of them looked exactly the same? The boy looked back down to the mane of the horse, listening to the two.

“What do you mean, they didn’t leave willingly?” She asked.

“Ah,” The King let out a small chuckle, “The townspeople began to attack. It’s silly, because the church organized it. They came attacking the castle, and those who worked in the castle either jumped off, or died trying to defend themselves.”

Gemma gasped. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left, I’m so selfish.”

Harry shook his head. “No, it’s okay, we’re okay. Everything is looking up now, don’t you think?”

“I suppose,” She sighed.

Louis furrowed his eyebrows, and bit down on his lip. He wouldn’t have expected the people to attack. Or the church, really. That’s why Harry felt uneasy about a church being built in Holmes Chapel. Louis figured that he was afraid of his homosexuality coming out to the church, bringing chaos. 

No, he was afraid of being attacked again.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I had band and had to read a bunch of book for the summer. And also, I ran out of excuses. Longer chapter for apology? <3

Louis sighed to himself and leaned his head back on the sofa. It was the next day, and the castle was quiet. Gemma and Harry had been spending the day away, barely acknowledging the boy in the hallways. It had been so quiet and lonely, that Louis had finished another book. 

Niall was cleaning Gemma’s room on the third floor. Surprisingly, her room was right next to Louis’. When the smaller passed the room this morning, he saw books scattered and clothes thrown all over the floor. It was as if Gemma had left in a hurry when she could. Louis didn’t blame her, he wouldn’t want to be in charge of all of this mess.

With a groan, he sat up from the sofa and looked around at the library. The sun was shining through the windows, and was getting too bright for Louis’ eyes. He shook his head, placing the book down, and walked out of the room. 

Liam and Zayn were out scouting out the city. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Harry went to go show Gemma the city as well. Harry never shown the city to Louis, no it was ‘too dangerous’ for him, or, ‘you’ll be killed, Louis’. And yet, he’s probably showing his sister everything. 

“Ridiculous,” He grumbled, “Oh, Louis! You’ll love Gemma! She won’t take all of Harry’s attention at all! Ugh, stupid emotions; why do I have to have feelings?”

“Talking to yourself now? You’re losing it, Louis.” 

The boy spun around to see Niall walking his way. He crossed his arms and looked away from the blonde boy. “There’s no one else to talk to around here. It’s getting lonely.”

Niall stuck his bottom lip out. “Aw, is the poor puppy jealous of Gemma? Is she taking all of Harry’s attention from you? Oh, poor puppy.”

“Fuck off, Niall.”

“Oh, the puppy is feisty now? Will a belly rub make him feel better?” Niall cooed, squeezing Louis’ cheeks, “Well, why won’t Uncle Niall give him a little treat, huh?”

Louis glared at him and swatted his hand away. “Stop Niall, seriously.”

The blonde boy grinned. “Well, someone is getting a bit angry. Wouldn’t you say? Do we need to put you outside? Or-”

“Niall, that’s enough.” A voice echoed in the hallway. 

The smaller rolled his eyes and looked towards the voice. Harry was walking towards them, Gemma finally absent from his presence. The king had an eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. When he finally reached the two, he stared down at Niall.

“Niall, last time I checked, you were supposed to be cleaning Gemma’s room, not harassing Louis.” He told the Blondie.

Niall shrugged his shoulders. “Just a little of banter, Harry. Anyways, since I finished cleaning Gem’s room, I’m going to go prepare for lunch.” 

And with that, the blonde boy started to walk off, leaving Harry and Louis together. The smaller rolled his eyes and began to walk away from Harry. He didn’t want to bother the man, on whatever his mission was at the moment. And plus, he was still a bit upset that he wasn’t getting as much attention lately.

“Louis? Where are you going?” Harry asked, grabbing the smaller’s hand. “Are you upset? You know Niall doesn’t mean it like that.”

The smaller turned around and shook his head. “It’s nothing,” He sighed, “where’s Gemma? She’s usually glued to you.”

Harry smiled and let go of Louis’ hand. “She went into town with Liam and Zayn, but forget that. I have very important news.”

“That would be?”

The King’s grin got wider, his dimples popping out of his cheeks. Louis was sure that if the man were to smile any bigger, his cheeks would pop off. He ran a hand through his gorgeous brown locks that had gotten longer than when Louis had arrived.

“Well, tomorrow morning I’ll be out, because citizens are arriving and setting up their shops. Isn’t that exciting? Holmes Chapel will finally be populating again.”

Louis furrowed his eyebrows, “How does this apply to me?”

“Oh,” The man instantly frowned, “I thought you would be excited too. I mean, you’d have a better life around here. Like, you know, love… er, anyways, I thought you’d be happy.”

“Not really, and besides, my life won’t get better until I’m actually with my mum.” Louis snapped, “You’re the one who took me away from her, because you’re so selfish. It’s like the world revolves around you, Harry. Nobody’s feelings matter to you apparently.”

Harry stood there stunned, like he had seen a ghost. Louis doesn’t blame him, he couldn’t believe what he had just said. He didn’t even mean what he said, the smaller was just angry that he wasn’t getting enough attention the past two days. Louis bit the inside of his lip and waited for Harry’s response.

It’s as if the King’s facial features dropped, and his lips were pressed into a straight line. “I thought you said otherwise. That I was your home. I wanted to treat you like family here.” 

“I lied, I didn’t want to be dropped off in that shit town.”

“I see,” Harry cleared his throat, “I… I can make arrangements in the morning to send you to Doncaster. Into your old house until your mother comes to get you. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

And with that, the man turned on his heels and walked the other way.

-

Why, why, why? 

Why did he do that?

Louis gripped at his hair and pulled it forcefully. God, he regret that more than anything. He was finally getting along with Harry and he pulled that shit with him. The smaller groaned and started to pace around his bedroom. Curses started slipping past his lips and progressively began to get louder. Dinner was an hour ago, and Louis didn’t go. It would have been too awkward. The sky turned dark and he had little time to fix his mistake.

“What am I going to do?” He cried out, “I don’t want to leave, I never wanted to leave. Christ, I’m so stupid.”

He groaned and kicked the desk beside his door, causing little things to fall down. Louis sighed and his shoulders dropped as he looked at the desk. Those weren’t his things, in fact, he didn’t know whose they were. They just decorated the shelves and attempted to bring color to the room. This wouldn’t even be his room anymore, they’d probably give it to another maid, or to a cook. 

Or Harry’s new lover.

Louis sobbed and fell to his knees. Why couldn’t he be less stubborn? This wouldn’t have happened if he just said he felt underappreciated. Why couldn’t he just say ‘just stay with me’? Harry would have, he does care for the smaller, he wouldn’t say no.

Why couldn’t Louis just say he loved him?

Love.  
Tears began to roll down his cheeks as he gripped his hair, the hair that Harry had cut. The man done practically everything for him. Harry didn’t have to keep Louis around after he read his cards, but he let him stay. They were practically best friends.

Until now.

Louis hung his head in shame, “I hate myself.”

Knocking filled the silence between Louis and the door. He didn’t get up to check, he was too ashamed of himself. Eventually after a few more knocks, the door squeaked open. Someone’s bare feet had stood in front of him. Louis didn’t want to look up.

“Hey, Louis?” A sweet voice asked. It was Gemma, of course it was Gemma, it’s always Gemma. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

The smaller shook his head as tears continued to pour down his cheeks. It wasn’t Gemma’s fault that he was stupid. A whimper slipped past his lips, and then a few more until he was sobbing like a child.

“It will be okay, I promise.” Gemma said softly as she pulled the boy into a hug.

-

After a while, Gemma had convinced Louis to sit in his bed with her. His tears had stopped pouring, and his cheeks were raw. Harry’s sister had her hand on Louis’ back, soothing him, and talking to him. Louis had began talking, telling Gemma how he hated himself, and how he was selfish. She disagreed, telling him that he was beautiful.

“Do you want to tell me what caused this? You nor Harry had went to dinner, were you guys together? The boys were convinced that you were, but I don’t think so.” Gemma said softly.

Louis turned his head. “I was a jerk, I lied to him.”

She hummed, “So you guys had a fight?”

“More like, I was a dick. Harry doesn’t fight with me, not anymore.”

“What happened, Louis?”

He let out a ragged breath and a tear rolled down his cheek. “I told him that my life wouldn’t be better without my mum, and told him he was selfish. I was mean, I didn’t mean to be. My emotions are everywhere, I was just upset that he wasn’t hanging out with me lately.”

“Ah,” She said softly, “Do you miss your mum?”

Louis shrugged his shoulders, “I suppose; the old her, though. I’m not fond of her right now. Money is more important than her son. She didn’t attempt to get me back. I haven’t even gotten a letter. My sister sent me a letter, but, my mum doesn’t even talk about me anymore.”

“I’m so sorry, Louis. I wish it wasn’t like that. You know, Harry lost our mum around your age. I think he’s trying to help you be stronger. Even I envy how strong he is.” Gemma chuckled, “How about we go apologize and tell him the truth?”

“What? We can’t do that.” The smaller looked at her bewilderdely. “He’s going to be upset, I can’t tell him.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You think he’s not already upset? He likes you a lot, Louis. I can tell.”

Louis bit on his lip and looked down. He didn’t want to face the man just yet. A little bit of him was scared of his reaction, and other bit of him was too stubborn, that was the ugly part of him. 

“Come on, let’s go.” Gemma pulled on his arm, with a warm smile.

-

“I don’t want to do it.” Louis whispered, “It’s almost midnight, what if he’s asleep?”

Gemma rolled her eyes. “Trust me, he’s not asleep. Do it, Louis. You’ll feel better afterwards.”

The boy looked at her with sad eyes and turned back to the door. His small fist hovered in front of the wooden door. He closed his eyes and let out a breath before softly knocking. His hand dropped and turned to look at Gemma, who was walking down the hallways. 

Louis’ breath hitched and his body froze. Gemma left him, he couldn’t do this alone. He panicked to himself and considered leaving, but his body stayed in place. Footsteps started to get closer to the door and Louis’ heart was racing. He wanted to leave. Tears began to form in his eyes as the doorknob jiggled. It opened slowly, and before Louis knew it, tears were running down his face as Harry looked down at him.

“Louis, what are you doing here? Niall agreed to take you back home tomorrow. If you don’t mind, I’m trying to work.” Harry said sternly. Louis froze and couldn’t talk, he was sure if he tried, only sobs would come out. With a sigh, Harry began to close his door.

That is, until Louis quickly wrapped his arms around the man’s tense waist and cried into his chest. 

“No, don’t leave me.” The smaller sobbed. “I don’t want you to leave me, I don’t want to leave the castle. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Harry’s body relaxed and his hand tangled into Louis’ hair. “Hey… hey, I’m not going to leave you, okay? You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to.”

Louis sobbed harder, “I lied to you, you are my home. I don’t want my mum, I just want you.”

“It’s okay, let’s go into my room, alright? I don’t want the boys to see you like them, or Gem.” He said softly, “You should lie down and get some rest.”

“I want to be with you.” He cried.

Harry reached down to Louis’ face and made the boy look at him. “You are with me, okay? I’m not leaving you.” The smaller nodded and tightened his grip as they walked into Harry’s room. “I’ll always be with you, I promise.”

“I’m sorry,”

The man leaned down and kissed Louis’ forehead. “I’ll never leave you.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how spooky I'm not updating in two month intervals

“Welcome, welcome!” Harry cheered, “It’s very exciting to see you.”

People strode through the city with their families in carriages as Harry grinned. Or should he say King Styles? Liam and Zayn were instructing the families where to set up. Thankfully, they had the opportunity to own a house next to their shops, which would be easier for them. Although, there was a food crisis going to happen, Louis could tell. There were no farmers moving in. Harry told the boy that there was nothing to worry about, but that’s all he could do.

Louis sat on a horse next to Harry, looking around at the city. It was nice and hard to believe that people would move out of the place. As Harry had said, the city was very well preserved. All it needed was people to live in. Louis wished that his family would come to live here. He could still see Harry and his family at the same time. 

But he knew that wouldn’t happen.

“Harry, how many families are coming?” Louis asked quietly.

The man hummed and turned to look at the smaller. “About thirty; there’s blacksmiths, armorers, groomers, all kinds of people.”

“Um,” Louis darted his eyes, “what about food?”

Harry reached over and ruffled the smaller’s hair. “I told you to not worry. There’s not farmers, but there’s fishermen, so calm down. And if the situation gets any worse, there’s plenty of food back at the castle.”

Gemma let out a long yawn; Louis almost forgot that she was on the back of Harry’s horse. Her long blonde hair laid flat against her red elegant dress. It was such a shame how women had more a variety of colors and dresses, while men had practically the same clothes. 

“It’s too early for this shit, couldn’t they have come at night or something?” She whined as she put her head on Harry’s back. Louis felt strangely jealous of her.

The man scoffed, “You haven’t changed at all, you grump. Besides, I want them to report anything wrong with their homes before the night comes. Some of them aren’t as stable.”

“How would you fix them?” Louis asked.

“I wouldn’t,” Harry smiled. “I’d just move them to a different house. We need to get a carpenter, like several of them.”

Louis nodded and looked at the families still coming in. Young women rode on the back of the carriages, smiling and waving at Harry. The boy couldn’t help to roll his eyes. Harry was gay, and they wouldn’t be able to marry him. Not on Louis’ watch. No one would be able to hold the man and kiss his pink lips.

Not even Louis.

The smaller frowned and looked at his white horse. “Can I go back to the castle? I’m cold.”

“Louis, I told you to wear a thicker sweater. Are you sure you want to go back?”

No.

“Yes,”

Harry frowned, “Can’t you stay a little longer? Actually, wait,” The man began to take off his cloak, and Louis furrowed his eyebrows. This wasn’t okay, Louis was not royalty. “Wear this, it will keep you warm.”

Louis looked at the cloak being handed to him. “Harry, I can’t take that. It’s not right. I’m just a peasant.”

“You’re not a peasant, Louis. Wear the stupid thing, it means nothing to us.” The man told him.

“He’s right,” Gemma sleepily said. “It’s literally just a piece of thick fabric to decorate your clothes and prove your higher ranking. Not only are your clothes a pain in the ass, that cape is heavy and gets too hot. I should know, I had to wear the damn thing for seventeen years.”

Harry shrugged, “She’s right, but her language is filthy. Just wear it, I don’t want you to be sick again.”

The smaller frowned and took the cloak, wrapping it around his body. He could still feel the warmth of Harry’s body. It reminded him of the night before; as he laid curled up against Harry “sleeping”. It was always a gift to be able to sleep in the same bed as the man, as Harry had a tendencies to cuddle in his sleep. 

“Ah, King Styles,” one of the peasants nervously said as they approached Harry. “Will there be a doctor? One of my daughters are beginning to come down with a sickness, I’m worried there won’t be any medicine.”

The King smiled warmly, “No worries, the doctor is setting up their infirmary. They arrived an hour ago.”

“Thank Heavens, and thank you, King Harry.” The peasant said and ran back to their carriage.

“You’re too nice, Harry.” Gemma muttered as she sat up. “What are you going to do if they try to riot?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders, “I’m trying to be kind and to keep up with their needs and wants. The only thing I’m unsure of is a church.”

Louis looked over at the two: Harry had worried written all over his face as Gemma furrowed her eyebrows. The blonde haired girl crossed her arms and let out a dry laugh as Harry ran a hand through his long hair.

“You rejected a church,” Gemma said bluntly. “I can’t believe you did that, Christ. I figured you would get over it. Are you going to keep rejecting religion or are you going to face reality and realize that it’s there for good?”

Harry spun his body back to face her. “Gemma, I’m not rejecting their religion. I don’t care about them worshiping something. I’m concerned about the boys’ and my safety. What would they do if they found out? Plus, having a church would bring chaos again.”

She furrowed her eyebrows even more. “You mean you haven’t gotten over that? I thought it was just a teenager thing for you. You were always fond of girls growing up, I don’t know what happened.”

“I was fond of girls because I wanted to be a girl, Gemma. Unlike you, I can’t just go up to some random man and have sex with him.” The man hissed.

“Hey,” Louis said softly, “Can you guys calm down? Someone’s going to hear you.”

Gemma rolled her eyes. “I suppose that’s why you keep Louis around, isn’t it? You wanna fuck him, right? That’s the real reason you never let him go. All this nonsense, ‘oh his mother won’t come back’. He gave you what you wanted, but now you want more, don’t you?”

Louis’ cheeks turned a bright red as he listened to the two. He turned his head away and started to fiddle with his thumbs. The boy had never witnessed the two fight with each other like that. Louis always fought with his sisters, but never like that. Louis figured that Gemma had left the kingdom to spare Harry the fights they could potentially have.

“Shut the fuck up about Louis, you don’t know a damn thing about him or me.” Harry growled. “Get off my horse and go back to the castle.”

“What? Are you punishing me for revealing your true intentions?” She rolled her eyes and got off the horse, “Have fun with your Kingdom, your majesty. Don’t let your citizens come back and bite you in the ass.”

With that, Gemma began walking back to the castle, leaving Harry and Louis in a deathly silence. Neither one of them spoke, and quite frankly, Louis was too afraid to say anything. Besides, the man needed a little time to cool down. 

It was rare that Harry would curse; usually, he was calm and collected. The only time Louis saw the man so angry was when Zayn had accidentally hit the boy, and Louis only saw little of that. Speaking of which, Louis' lips had healed quite quickly. Although, the cut between his nose and lips had a faint little cut.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that." Harry said softly, breaking the silence.

"Oh," Louis played with his fingers, "it's okay, I always fought with my sisters back home."

He sighed, "What she said wasn't true. I wouldn't pressure you into anything like that, or keep you hostage for it. Christ, I couldn't imagine why someone would do that."

"It's okay, I understand. I think Gemma was just a bit grumpy." The smaller told him. 

Harry ran hand through his long curls and looked at the gate. People stopped going through and Liam and Zayn began leading them to their homes. Louis felt sorry for the man; back at home, his sisters didn’t judge him for the way he was, nor did his mother. They were all accepting, and he knew finding love would be a tough task. The smaller figured that royalty was different. Queer didn’t belong in the Kingdom world, or did the idea. Even with a small happy family that Harry had. 

It was expected to be a phase.

“Louis,” Harry spoke again, “can you go back to the castle with Gemma?”

A frown formed on the boy’s face as his shoulders dropped. “I thought I would be helping you today.”

The man looked away, “You are, by taking care of Gemma for me. Please, she’s reckless.”

Louis nodded and directed his horse to the castle.

-

“Louis, I don’t understand why you’re still here.” Gemma complained. They had found themselves in the library. The boy had a book in his hand as the blonde haired girl sat across from him. It had been several hours since Louis last seen Harry. “You have so much potential, you could be in Doncaster. Louis, you could even have Harry pay you to live away from here.”

The boy sighed and placed his book down. “For the last time, I don’t want to leave.”

“Why?!” She practically shook the walls with her voice. “Who would want to live in this junk?”

Louis frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. “Why are you acting like this? Harry was excited to see you again, and now you’re acting like this. The boys said you two rarely fought, and if you did, you’d make up before the night is over.”

Gemma didn’t answer; instead, she turned her head and played with her fingers. Louis sighed and got up from his spot and walked over to the girl. She paid no attention to his presence, only playing with her fingernails.

“Hey, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?” He said softly, “It will be okay if you tell me what’s wrong.”

“My husband is gay,” Gemma muttered, “even I can’t change him. I thought he truly love me, but I was just a cover up for the church.”

Louis’ eyes went wide and he placed a hand over his mouth. He wasn’t expecting that, he was expecting something along the lines of Harry. “Gemma, I’m so sorry. I thought you had a child?”

She shook her head no and covered her eyes. “No, that was a lie. He won’t even have sex with me. What’s wrong with me, Louis?”

“Hey, hey, nothing is wrong with you. You need to break up with him, Gemma.”

The girl removed her hands and wiped the trailing tears. She sat up from the sofa, and averted her eyes from the boy. “I’m going to go take a nap, I’ll feel better after that. I’ll apologize to Harry later. I’m sorry for wasting your time, Louis.”

-

A couple of hours later, Harry walked in with Niall, Liam, and Zayn behind him. All of them had looked exhausted and fatigued. Louis had practically jumped from one of the sofas in the foyer. He ran up to Harry, tugging on his sleeve.

“Harry, I think-”

“Where’s Gemma?” He asked, cutting off the smaller.

Louis frowned. “She’s in her room, but Harry-”

Harry shook his head and continued to walk towards the stairs. Liam ruffled the boy’s hair as he continued walking hand in hand with Zayn. The smaller bit on his lip and walked next to Harry, grabbing his sleeve.

“Did you eat anything?” The man asked, “I can make you something before I go to bed.”

“I’m okay, but I need to talk to you about something.” Louis told him, quietly.

The man ran a hand through his hair. “Can it wait until tomorrow, Louis? I’m very tired, I’m sorry.” 

The boy grabbed Harry’s sleeve, stopping him in his tracks. Louis frowned at him and looked at him in the eyes. The others walked past, not caring of the sudden drama the boy was making. “Harry, please listen to me.”

“What’s wrong?” Harry immediately asked, seeing the distress on the boy’s face.

“Gemma isn’t okay. And, she didn’t mean what she said this morning.”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. “I knew she didn’t mean what she said, but what’s wrong? She’s still in the castle, right?”

Louis takes a breath, and looks back at the boys walking up the stairs. “She’s still here, but I need to tell you something in private.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've added Stockholm Syndrome to the tags because that's literally what this is i'm sorry.   
> anyways
> 
>  
> 
> soon. that's all i'm going to say.

“What’s the issue?” Harry asked, a small toothy smile appeared on his face. 

The two sat on Harry’s bed; the man had decided to shed half of his clothes while Louis was in there, making it incredibly hard to concentrate. It was very rare that the boy was able to see Harry and his naked chest. Louis licked his lips and fiddled with his fingers trying to not stare at the man’s chest. 

“Um,” Louis averted his eyes to look at the door. “I don’t think Gemma wants me to tell you this, but it needs to be done.”

Harry hummed and began cracking his fingers. “Well, if it needs to be said, then tell me? What’s this secret? You know you can tell me anything, Louis.”

The boy sighed and tried to look at Harry. “Do you remember Jonathan, Gemma’s husband?”

“How could I not? He married my sister and got her pregnant. I mean, I practically have a nephew from the man. What a nice fellow, I remember meeting him for the first time. He was excited to see the castle and was very friendly. Oh, but their son, my nephew, Joseph. So quiet, almost like he doesn’t belong to Gemma.” He laughed and rambled on. 

“Harry,” Louis whispered. “You don’t have a nephew.”

The man quickly stopped laughing and furrowed his eyebrows. “What? What do you mean I don’t have a nephew? I’ve seen the kid before, he calls me Uncle Harry.”

Louis frowned and bit on his lip before speaking quietly. “Gemma said that it was all a lie. She told me that Jonathan was, um, gay.”

“Excuse me, what? Gay? The man was - oh.”

“She said that she was just his cover up,” the boy muttered. “That he was trying to hide from the church.”

Harry nodded and ran a hand through his curls. “It all makes sense now. Why Gemma was against bringing her son, and how Jonathan was always so fond of me. I always thought he was simply a friendly man. God, I must make her feel shitty when I talk about my sexuality. I’m feeling a little lightheaded. I need to go apologize.”

Louis’ eyes widened as Harry began to get up from the bed. He reached out and grabbed the man’s hand, stopping him in his tracks. “Harry, no. You can’t tell her that I told you. Plus, she’s still hurt from earlier today. It would just make it worse for now.”

“I don’t know what to do in this position. I’ve never heard of this before, I know it happens, but to my sister? Very strange, she’s too pretty for that. What do I do, Louis?”

“Just try to encourage her to divorce him. And maybe you could convince her to move back in the castle? She seems to be having fun around here.”

Harry nodded. “You’re right, I’ll do that. You’re always so smart, Louis. Always knowing what to do. I’m jealous of you.”

They went into silence and Louis realized he still had ahold of Harry’s hand. A blush rose on his cheeks as he let go of his hand. The man chuckled as he sat back down, closer to Louis this time. He laid down, pulling back Louis shirt, so that he would lay down next to him. 

“I can really trust you, Louis.” Harry said quietly.

Louis blushed again and hid his face into his hands. “Why? I’m not even that great.”

Harry grabbed the boy’s wrists and moved them away from his face. He smiled at the boy’s blushing face and moved his hair out of his eyes. “I don’t have to have a reason, I just have that feeling.”

The boy’s thoughts were racing as they were that close. His heart was pounding in his chest as Harry continued to stroke his hair back. Louis was sure his face was beet red and very attractive, but he continued to look at the man’s green eyes. 

“A feeling? What does that mean?” Louis murmured. 

“I’m not entirely sure, it just makes me want to be with you all the time. To tell you how much I appreciate you, that you comfort me, that I just want to hold you.” Harry wrapped his arms around the boy, pulling him closer. His eyes closed as he just held him.

Louis licked his lips, and swallowed the lump in his throat. “W-What else?”

Harry hummed, “That I just want to take in your aroma, and kiss your neck.”

Hot air found itself at Louis’ neck, goosebumps found themselves on the skin as he closed his eyes. Warm lips met his skin, causing the boy to suck in a breath. He held back his whimpers and moans as Harry lazily kissed his neck. This was the most intimate thing they have ever done. Louis hadn’t even kissed the man, except for the cheek, but that was it. 

Harry’s hands dropped to the hem of the boy’s shirt and sneaked underneath, feeling Louis’ stomach. “Louis, you’re so special, do you know that?” He said in between kisses.

Before the boy could respond, Harry’s door swung open. Louis jumped up, feeling dazed and hot. Harry sat up next, with his lips red, and his eyes full of lust. They looked over to who opened his door. There in the doorway stood Gemma. She had her arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed. Her eyes met the two, and mostly Harry’s appearance.

“Who the hell let him drink?” She sighed. “I’m so sorry, Louis. He turns into this when he’s drunk. I should know, he got drunk frequently when mother had parties. Sneaking alcohol into the library.” 

Louis furrowed his eyebrows. “W-What? Drunk?”

Gemma nodded. “Can’t you tell? His pupils are huge, his face is flushed, and he’s a cuddler. Was he not cuddling you, or was I seeing things?”

“‘M not drunk, Gem. I only had a few. The citizens wanted to thank me, okay? Sorry I’m simply a better king than you are.” He told her.

“What did you do to poor Louis? He looks like he’s seen a ghost.”

The boy stood up from the bed, scratching the back of his head, feeling a blush rise on his cheeks again. He was embarrassed, and though Harry actually meant those things. A lump in his throat began to grow. He was too emotional for his own good. Louis began to walk out of the room and held back his tears. 

“Louis, where are you going?” Harry called out. “I wanted you to stay with me.”

Gemma scoffed. “He doesn’t want to stay with you if you’re drunk. I don’t blame him, you say too much shit when you’re drunk.”

The boy let out a breath. “I’m going to bed, goodnight.”

-

In the morning, Louis didn’t get out of bed. In fact, he barely got any sleep that night. His thoughts were racing and his heart hurt. Harry was only telling him drunken slurs, it wasn’t the real him, but yet it felt so right that he wish he never left. What would have happened if Gemma didn’t walk in? Louis’ walls would have cracked, and he would probably tell Harry things that wouldn’t be remembered. 

Louis sighed a rolled over on his side, curling up into a ball. He still remembered Harry’s warm lips on his neck, and his hands trailing the skin on his stomach. Louis bit the inside of his cheek as he ran his hands down to his stomach, trying to recreate the feeling Harry gave him. His hands lowered down, and closer to his middle. 

He sucked in a breath as he slipped his hand underneath his underwear and took ahold of his member. Slowly, his hand began to pump himself slowly. Louis arched his back and began to quicken his pace, with small whimpers leaving his lips.

“Fucking Harry,” Louis whimpered, “Always leading me on.”

The boy was practically thrusting into his hand by now, Louis panted and cursed to himself, as he became so needy. He though of Harry prominent lips wrapped around his length, sucking him ever so slightly. 

Louis threw his head back and began to cum with a cry. He began to ride out his orgasm, feeling heavy from orgasming so hard. The boy let go of himself, and laid there while panting. He didn’t feel like getting up and changing yet, he just wanted to lay there and think of last night. 

“Why do you have to hurt me?” Louis whispered, placing an arm over his eyes. “You don’t mean to, but it still hurts.”

-

“I definitely regret drinking last night,” Harry muttered to himself as he took off his glasses to rub his forehead. 

Louis looked up at him, and silently scoffed. He went back to reading his book, Pride and Prejudice. They were in the library, and it had been several hours since the morning. Louis was positive no one was up for breakfast, or up early for that matter. So, the boy decided to shower and find him a snack to eat while he read. Eventually, Harry joined him to do work, something he’s neglected for a while.

Harry hummed to himself and ran a hand through his hair. “Were you there to see my drunken glory?”

“Yes,” Louis said quietly, not looking up from his book.

“I apologize, I’m definitely not myself.” He laughed.

The boy rolled his eyes. “I’m very aware.”

“Did I say anything to you?” Harry asked, grinning to the boy. “Hopefully nothing bad, because what’s negative about you, Louis? Although, I’m very touchy when drunk, or so I’ve been told.”

“Nothing happened,” Lie.

He nodded and put his glasses back on. “That’s good, I wouldn’t want to upset you.” Louis rolled his eyes again, and turned body so that he was reclined on the sofa. His mind wandered off while he was trying to read the book. He thought of last night and how Harry’s full lips were attached to his neck. Louis sighed to himself, realizing that he was reading the same page over again. He put down the book and rubbed his temples.

“Do you remember anything from last night? Maybe just a little bit?” Louis asked him.

Harry paused and began to think. “I just remember coming back to the castle after drinking. Then, I was in my room with Gemma. Ah, what did she say? I can’t remember. It all feels like a fever dream. Why do you ask?”

“I just tried to tell you something, but your mind was somewhere else.” 

“Oh,” Harry drawled on, “I remember what Gemma said. She said, ‘stop leading Louis on, you drunken fuck.’” He frowned. “What does that mean? Louis, are you sure nothing happened?”

Louis shook his head and sat up from the sofa. Harry had his eyebrows furrowed, and confusion in his eyes. The boy just sighed and stood up, beginning to walk out of the room, that is until Gemma walked in. She raised an eyebrow at Louis as he stood there, with hurt written on his face. 

“What’s going on?” Gemma asked him, looking back to see Harry.

The boy shrugged his shoulders. “I just want to go to my room.”

“Louis, I just want to know what’s wrong. I can’t fix what I don’t know.” Harry told him softly.

Gemma took the boy’s hand, and led him back into the room. She frowned at Harry and looked over at Louis, who’s face was turning bright red. He had his face turned away from the man, not being able to look at the man’s face. He was embarrassed of his feelings, Harry didn’t feel the same and would never feel the same.

Harry sighed, “Gemma can you tell me what happened last night? Louis won’t tell me anything. Obviously, something happened with the way he’s acting.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “You don’t remember? Christ, out of all of those things, you don’t remember that?”

“No, what happened? Just tell me, I’m going mad.”

“Harry,” Gemma sighed, “You took Louis to your room.”

His face went white, and his mouth agape. “Louis, we didn’t - oh god, tell me I didn’t.”

Gemma chuckled softly, “No, no, I came in way before anything. When I walked in, your shirt was off and your arms were wrapped around poor little Louis. Also, your lips were attached to his neck. Good thing I walked in before anything else happened, eh? The other boys told me you’ve been drinking, and that it would be best if I checked up on you with Louis.”

Harry sighed, covering his face with both of his hands. “I hate myself, mostly my drunken self. Louis, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I do ignorant things when I have too much to drink.”

The boy bit down on his lip, feeling a lump rise in his throat. He shook his head again, sucking in a deep breath. “I just want to lie down, is that okay?”

“That’s okay, Louis.” Gemma told him. “Let us know if you need anything, alright?”

He nodded and began to walk out of the library. What he really needed was Harry, and that was never going to happen, at this point.


End file.
